


All Fall Down

by chellerrific



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Accidental Death, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempted Murder, Death from Illness, F/M, Gen, Murder, Suicide, Warnings for discussions of the following:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 16:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2739719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellerrific/pseuds/chellerrific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It looks like someone is out to get spoiled socialite Luke fon Fabre, in the most extreme way possible. It’s up to Detectives Tear Grants and Guy Cecil to figure out who and why, but can they finish the job before Luke’s assailant finishes him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of NaNoWriMo 2014. I’m a firm believer that Tales fandom needs more AUs, and Abyss especially needs more fluffy AUs.
> 
> Unfortunately, this is not that fic.
> 
> Some notes before we begin: as stated in the tags, this fic contains non-graphic discussions of death, basically all manners thereof. It is not grimdark, nor even as dark as canon honestly, but please avoid if that is something that might cause you distress.
> 
> Yes that is a weird pairing. Bear with me. This story is more gen than anything.
> 
> All names are either strictly canon or cannibalized from other parts of canon. Except for Mohs, which is just a science joke.
> 
> The characters are all about ten years older than their canon ages.
> 
> Thanks as always to my handy pocket beta Phil, who read, encouraged, suggested, gasped in the appropriate places, and assured me Jade was adequately INTJ—all despite the fact that this isn’t even her fandom. Cheers.

Tear stood and listened to the police chief explain the case. An attempted murder. Her first big case. She thought she was a homicide detective. It took minimal effort to swallow that pang of disappointment, though. It wasn’t her place to question his judgment. After all, he was her boss and he’d been on the job much longer than her.

“Tear, Guy, I cannot stress enough how vital this assignment is,” Van said, looking them directly in the eyes to emphasize his point.

“Because the family is rich and important?” Guy asked. His tone was light but the cynicism of the question surprised Tear.

“Because homicide doesn’t often get the chance to save a life,” Van corrected, his tone steady and even.

When he put it that way, Tear did feel a little less sidelined. “We’re honored to do what we can, sir,” she said.

Van shot her a look of what she thought might have been amusement, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “Go ahead and interview the family. Get all the details and try to get a feel for them. They know you’re coming.”

“The fon Fabre family,” Guy said conversationally on the drive over. “Fish don’t get bigger than that.”

Tear nodded.

“Hey, don’t be nervous. There’s honestly a very real chance they’ll turn out to be mistaken about what happened.”

“I’m not nervous.” She wasn’t. Nerves were for amateurs. This may have been her first big case, but she was still a professional.

“Oh.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “You and the chief are pretty different, you know.”

Tear didn’t really know what that had to do with anything. “He is eleven years older.”

“True, true.” Guy coughed. “I just want you to know, I know what people say, and I think they’re full of it.”

Oh. This seemed to be the point.

“If you weren’t right for the job, Van would never have promoted you. There’s always talk whenever someone gets ahead, especially when they’re young. Just know that’s not me.”

Tear nodded. “Thank you.” He was right. There had been a lot of murmuring about the fact that she was the chief’s younger sister. Tear had been ignoring it, and frankly Guy’s opinion didn’t matter, only his performance. Still, she had to admit to herself she was a little grateful for what he said.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Outside the view faded from businesses to houses to mansions. Guy stopped outside the biggest one, sprawling and deep red with a three-tiered fountain out front. The windows alone probably cost more than Tear’s annual salary.

Guy let out a low whistle as they got out of the car. “Wouldn’t mind coming home to this everyday.”

Tear thought it was beyond extravagant, but she wasn’t here to judge these people or their lifestyle, only to discover what had happened.

“This must be the scene of the crime,” Guy said as they ascended the steps to the front door. They had to pick their way around the remains of a smashed stone gargoyle to get there. Both of them looked up, tracing the statue’s trajectory with their eyes. The space left by the gargoyle was clearly visible near the roof of the building.

“That would have been fatal to anyone it hit,” Tear observed. “The victim is lucky that it didn’t.”

The family was in what the maid referred to as the drawing room. Most of them were redheads. Redheads in a red house? Tear briefly wondered if they had thought that one through before she quickly moved on.

She and Guy were introduced to the fon Fabres one by one: redheaded family patriarch Herzog fon Fabre was an imposing man, broad shoulders and a steely gaze. His wife Susanne, also a redhead, was much softer, smiling gently if nervously at the detectives when they came in. Tear could tell at a glance she wasn’t in the best of health, her complexion more wan than fair, her cheekbooks a touch too prominent.

They had twin redheaded boys, long-haired Asch and short-haired Luke. Tear knew right away that though they were genetically identical, she would have no trouble telling them apart, and it wasn’t just because of the difference in hairstyles. Asch was sitting up and straight in an armchair, his eyes hard like his father’s. He looked almost angry, but Tear suspected that was just his face. He seemed more focused than anything. Luke, on the other hand, was slouched on the sofa and he looked like he could not have possibly cared less about what was going on—which was curious, as he was supposed to have been the victim.

Rounding out the assembled were Asch’s wife and Luke’s fiancée. Asch’s wife, Natalia, was fair-skinned and -haired, elegant and refined, impeccable posture like her husband’s. Her expression wasn’t as hard but it was even more focused. She struck Tear as someone who overlooked nothing. Luke’s fiancée Anise Tatlin was different from everyone else in the room. Her hair and complexion were darker, a stark contrast to the pale redheads, and her eyes were big, brown, and alive. She sat so close to Luke she was practically in his lap, both of her arms wrapped protectively around one of his. While the slight waver in Susanne’s smile had belied her anxiousness, Anise looked like she was attending a party.

“Thank you for coming, Detectives,” Herzog said. “We know you’ll do everything you can to get to the bottom of this.”

“We aim to do just that,” Guy said. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“Luke was leaving the manor when one of the gargoyles fell and nearly crushed him. You will have seen the damage coming in,” Herzog explained. “We thought it best not to clean it up just yet. According to our majordomo, Ramdas, maintenance is performed on them routinely to make sure they’re secured, and it appeared to him as if someone had tampered with it.”

“All right. We’ll need to speak with him and take a look at the broken pedestal upstairs,” Guy said. “You did well to leave everything be. There may be evidence. Was anybody with Luke at the time the gargoyle fell?”

“I was about to leave with him,” Anise said. “But he remembered the cat hadn’t been fed and asked me to run back in and do it. It was all really scary! But it was almost like he sensed something bad was going to happen and protected me from it.” She nuzzled his shoulder.

“Where was everyone else?” Guy asked.

“Asch, his parents, and I were having tea in the parlor,” Natalia said. “We were discussing a possible business venture.”

“So you didn’t see it?”

“Only heard it,” Asch confirmed.

“I believe our driver, Ginji, was bringing the car around and witnessed the fall,” Susanne said.

“Okay. We’ll need to speak with him as well, and anyone else who was at the house today,” Guy said.

Tear jotted down notes dutifully, but there was one person who was suspiciously quiet, and she wanted to hear what he had to say. “Mr. fon Fabre, uh, Luke. Anything you’d like to add?”

“What’s there to add?” Luke said. “To be honest I think this whole thing is kind of stupid. It was a freak accident, and I’m fine. Next thing I know, you’re all gonna start saying it was attempted murder when Natalia’s crossbow almost hit me last week.”

There was silence for a moment. “You mean there was another incident?” Guy finally ventured.

“See? That’s what I mean. It wasn’t an ‘incident.’ It was a stupid accident, just like this one.”

“All the same, we’d like to hear about that too. You say she almost hit you with a crossbow?”

“Oh, no,” Natalia said quickly. “No, no, no. I wasn’t holding the crossbow at the time. It just belongs to me. It’s an antique. We have it on display in the parlor. The fixture slipped, the crossbow fell, and somehow that loosed the bolt. I didn’t even realize it was loaded.”

“Natalia had nothing to do with that,” Asch said. “We weren’t even home at the time.”

“No one is suspected of anything at this point, Mr. fon Fabre. We’re just trying to ascertain the facts,” Guy said.

“Well, ascertain elsewhere.”

Natalia squeezed his shoulder. “They’re just doing their jobs. Once they understand the circumstances, they’ll realize that this line of inquiry is absurd.”

Tear got the impression there was a veiled insult in there, but more importantly it had an ameliorating effect on Asch, so they were able to continue.

“We’d like to speak to each of you individually, if that’s all right,“ Guy said. “Is there somewhere—?”

Susanne stood. “We can wait in the parlor. And we’ll have the maid bring you some tea. Or would you prefer coffee?”

Guy and Tear accepted the offer of coffee and asked to speak with Luke first. He rolled his eyes but stayed put as everyone else filed out of the room.

“Take care, my darling,” Anise said. “If it gets too difficult, remember I’m nearby.” She kissed him full on the mouth, then followed the others out, shutting the door behind them.

“Congratulations on your engagement,” Guy said once she was gone. “You two seem very much in love.”

“Deliriously.” Luke didn’t sound completely sarcastic, but he was making no effort to appear enthusiastic or sincere, either.

“How long have you been engaged?”

“I dunno. Few months? Anise can tell you exactly.”

“Set a date for the wedding?”

Luke shrugged. “Anise wants to hurry up and do it but my family keeps bogging us down in planning and details and all that crap. You know how it is. They need it to be this big stupid frou-frou affair. It’s such a pain.”

The maid brought their coffee and a small tray of finger sandwiches and cookies. Tear and Guy paused in their questioning long enough to accept a cup each.

After the maid bustled out and shut the door again, there was a soft whining sound alerting them to the gray and white cat that had slipped in past her. It twined itself around Luke’s ankles and mewed at Tear and Guy.

Tear’s breath caught in her throat. She wanted to reach out and pet the cat. It took every ounce of her not inconsiderable self-discipline to keep herself in check. She wasn’t here to pet cats. Even if there was one right there and she really, really wanted to.

“Cute cat,” said Guy. “Yours?”

“I guess technically,” said Luke. “His name is Mieu.”

“Mew?” Tear repeated, impressed at the lack of hitch in her voice.

“Mieu,” Luke corrected.

“Oh,” Tear said, as if she heard a difference, which she didn’t.

“A cat named Mieu,” said Guy.

“He named himself,” Luke said. “Hey, Thing, go bug Anise.”

Mieu leapt up onto the sofa, curled up in Luke’s lap, and went to sleep. Luke sighed, exasperated, but did nothing to remove the animal.

“So you really don’t think anyone is trying to harm you—or anyone else in your family?” Guy said while beside him Tear struggled to keep her composure.

“No. This house is old as balls. It’s been in my family for generations. I don’t care how much ‘maintenance’ they do, crap’s bound to start falling down eventually.”

“And the crossbow?”

“She had a freaking loaded crossbow hanging on the wall! That’s like taking your hands off the steering wheel and being surprised when the car crashes,” Luke pointed out.

“She said it wasn’t supposed to be loaded.”

“Probably because I almost got impaled and it made her realize how stupid that was.”

“So you’re not worried?”

“Not even at all.”

“Let’s just humor your family for a moment. Can you think of anyone who might want to harm you?”

Luke shrugged. “Not really. And dropping a gargoyle on me seems like a pretty awful way to do it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I? It didn't even clip me.”

“Tear, anything you want to ask him?”

“Hm?” Tear tore her eyes away from the purring cat. “No. That’s enough. Can you send in your brother, please?”

“All right. Get up, Thing.” Luke jiggled his leg, but Mieu didn’t budge. With a sigh, Luke scooped the cat up in his arms before standing, carrying it out with him.

Tear whimpered internally. The cat was gone, but she’d be able to focus better. But the cat was gone. She was feeling a lot of mixed emotions.

“What are you thinking?” Guy asked.

“So fluffy…”

“What?”

“Fishy. It’s very fishy. I don’t want to draw any conclusions but the fact that there was another unexplained ‘accident’ makes it hard for me to write it off.”

Guy nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. That kind of coincidence is possible, but my instincts are telling me we need to dig.”

There was something weird about the family dynamic as well, but Tear didn’t get the chance to bring it up just then because Asch arrived.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie as he sat. The scowl was still in place, by now a little more genuinely irritated.

“Hello. Thank you for talking to us, Mr. fon Fabre,” Guy said.

“Do I really have a choice?”

“Yes, you do,” Guy assured him. “But things will go much more quickly if you tell us what you know.”

“Frankly, I wanted to do this through our family attorney,” Asch said. “I know how police can be. But my parents were insistent, for Luke’s sake.”

“They really believe his life is in danger?”

“Yes. I can’t say I disagree either. Natalia never loaded that crossbow. She’s not stupid or careless. Somebody else must have.”

“May we see the crossbow?”

“I don’t see why not. Natalia polished it after it fell, though, so if there were fingerprints, they’d be gone.”

“Can you think of any other unexplained incidents that fit this pattern?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“Is there anyone who might want to cause harm to your brother? Or anyone else in the family?”

Asch lifted his chin slightly. “I’d rather not say anything along those lines without an attorney.”

Guy raised an eyebrow. “So there is—”

Asch stood abruptly. “That’s all I have to say. I’ll send in the next person.”

“We’d like to see your wife next, please,” said Guy.

Asch froze on his way to the door. There was a long pause, and it seemed like he was about to refuse. Finally, without turning around, he said stiffly, “Very well,” then left.

“What do you think he meant by all that?” Guy asked.

“He’s protecting someone. Most likely the wife,” Tear said.

“He is very… _protective_ of her.”

Natalia swept back into the room, all business. “I understand the importance of this inquiry, and of course we’re all terribly worried for Luke, but I want to stress that my family’s time _is_ very valuable, so I appreciate efficiency. I’ll tell you what you want to know, as long as it’s germane, but Asch and I have a charity luncheon today and we must not leave later than noon.”

“We’ll do our best not to take up too much of your time, Mrs. fon Fabre.”

“It’s Ms. Lanvaldear, actually. I kept my maiden name. But please, call me Natalia.”

“All right, Natalia. How long have you and your husband been married?”

“Six years,” she said. “And while we’re on this topic, may I say that if there’s anyone here of whom you should be suspicious, it’s Luke’s fiancée?”

“Ms. Tatlin? I take it you’re not a fan?”

“Quite frankly, none of us are, of her or that uncle of hers.”

“Uncle?” Guy and Tear exchanged glances.

“Yes. He’s not here today. Convenient, hm? The two of them are obviously only after Luke’s money.”

“Did nobody say that about you when you married into the family?” Tear asked.

Natalia drew herself up a little more, which had seemed impossible before. “I should say not, considering my family is even richer than his. I have no need for Asch’s money whatsoever.”

“What makes you doubt Ms. Tatlin’s intentions?” Guy asked.

“I’m not saying that anyone without money is out to take it from those who have it, but in this case I think it’s blatantly obvious,” Natalia explained. “And you saw her. The way she drapes herself all over Luke as if he were a prize she found in her cereal box. She likes to flaunt the fact that she’s won because she knows nobody likes her.”

“But why would she want to kill Luke? They aren’t married yet, correct? Would she even get any money at this point?” Tear pointed out.

“I’m sure I don’t know what she has in mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if Luke were having second thoughts and she wanted to kill him out of anger. Or maybe she doesn’t want to kill him. Maybe she’s trying to frighten him or injure him in hopes that will somehow drive him back to her. There could be a number of reasons. I don’t pretend to understand the mind of someone like that. I only know that her motives for her interest in Luke are suspect, that whoever’s responsible had to have access to the crossbow and the gargoyle, which she did, and that no one else in the family would hurt Luke. And also, her uncle gives me the creeps. I know that’s not evidence, but I’m a very social person and it’s rare I find myself so put-off by someone.”

“What’s his name? This uncle,” Guy asked.

“Jade Curtiss.”

“Okay. We’ll be sure to check him out. Thank you for the tip. Can you tell us a little about this crossbow?”

“Ah, yes. My crossbow. I’m a nationally-ranked competitive archer and I have an interest in bows of all kinds,” Natalia explained. “The crossbow is an antique, a one-of-a-kind family heirloom. It belonged to my mother before me. She passed away some years ago. It’s very important to me. Asch knows that, so he suggested we hang it in the parlor, where it’s been since our wedding. I don’t keep it loaded, for obvious reasons. It’s merely supposed to serve as a reminder of my mother, as well as my many accomplishments. This isn’t my house, of course, but that makes it feel more like my home. So you see, I would never use it as a murder weapon, nor would Asch. It means too much to us to taint it with something so horrible.”

“Are Ms. Tatlin and her uncle the only ones you can think of who might want to hurt Luke?”

“Yes. His mother adores him, and while I’m sure they both seem less effusive, Asch and his father do love him dearly. This is a very close family.”

“And the staff?”

“The staff?” Natalia looked as if she had never considered the possibility. “Why, I have a difficult time picturing that. The staff are all treated very well. None of them would have any reason that I know of to hate Luke. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility, but it seems unlikely to me.”

“All right. Is there anything else you can think of that might be relevant?”

She gave it some consideration. “No, but if I think of anything I’ll let you know. I do hope you find who’s responsible, whether it’s Anise or someone else. Luke is very dear to me and I know all of us would be crushed if something were to happen to him.” She gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Crushed. What a poor choice of word.”

“What do you think?” Guy asked after she had left.

Tear shook her head. “She’s too shrewd. Sentiment or not, she never would have used her own crossbow.”

Guy nodded but didn’t add anything.

Anise was up next. The first thing she said after sitting down was, “They all think it’s me, right.”

“What makes you say that?”

Anise tugged on one of the dark curls framing her face. “Please. They all hate me. I’m not at all the kind of girl they want Luke to marry.”

“And what do they want?”

“Another Natalia. Refined, polite, already rich. They think I’m a low-class gold digger. But I _love_ Luke, okay? I swear I wouldn’t hurt him. And remember, I was almost standing right next to Luke when that gargoyle fell. _He_ was the one who sent me back inside. You can ask him if he didn’t tell you about it already. Come to think of it, I was near him when the crossbow thing happened too, if we’re counting that.” Suddenly, she gasped. “What if _I’m_ the real target?”

“Do you really believe that might be true?”

“I never would have thought of it before, but think about it! They hate me. They don’t want me near Luke or his money. Luke’s not getting rid of me, regardless of what they want, and I’m certainly not going anywhere. They could make all their problems, i.e. me, go away and have it look like an accident. Oh my god! I’m in serious danger here!”

“Ms. Tatlin, please try to remain calm,” Guy said. “If you truly think there’s a danger, we can get you someplace safe. I wouldn’t panic, though. We aren’t sure that’s what’s happening.”

Anise took a deep breath. “That’s true. There is something to be said for how adorable I am. And Luke will protect me.”

Tear thought that was unlikely, personally, but opted not to say so. “Ms. Lanvaldear mentioned you have an uncle who isn’t here today?”

Anise rolled her eyes. “Of course she did. I’m an orphan, you see. My parents both died in an accident when I was young. My uncle is my only family in the whole wide world, but of course Miss Priss doesn’t like him, either. I could have brought the Crown Jewels with me and she would have turned her nose up at them. _And_ accused me of stealing them.”

“Do you know where your uncle is?”

“He’s a doctor,” Anise said. “He’s very busy. There’s nothing suspicious about it. I already texted him about what happened and he said he’ll be home in a little while, if you want to talk to him.”

“We do. Just to cover all bases, you understand. He may have seen or heard something others missed.”

“Well, he is pretty smart, so he may have some ideas,” Anise said thoughtfully.

“Is there anything else you think we should know? Anything you noticed that was unusual, suspicious, or just out of place? Maybe it caught your attention at the time but you weren’t aware of the significance…?”

Anise shook her head, causing her curly ponytail to swing from side to side. “Nothing’s coming to mind. Oh! Oh! Mrs. fon Fabre said she thought some of her jewelry might be missing. Nobody accused me out loud of taking it, but of course they all think I did. Anyway, I didn’t. I don’t know if it’s related, but anything’s possible, right?”

“That’s certainly true. Now, since you expressed concerns for your own safety, do you want us to help you find somewhere to go tonight?”

“Mm… no, I guess not. If it’s not me they’re after, I want to be here to keep an eye on Luke. And if it is, I feel safer with him nearby.”

After she left, Guy turned to Tear. “What do you think?”

“Unlikely. It would benefit her to wait until after they’re married. Even if there’s a prenup with stipulations about his death, the chances of her actually getting something are much higher.”

“What about what Natalia suggested?”

“If Luke were having second thoughts, he would have said so. He’s not the type to censor himself.”

“I agree. We can’t rule her out but from what we know at this point, it doesn’t make as much sense to me as it should.”

They had just begun the interview with Luke’s parents when Anise burst back into the room.

“He’s gone!” she cried. “I can’t find Luke and Ginji says one of the cars is gone! He took off and anything could happen to him! Ohh, what are we going to do!”

At the family’s request, Tear put in a be on the lookout for both Luke and the car, but since Luke was an adult and the car wasn’t stolen, there wasn’t much else to be done. They tried to continue with the interview, but Susanne was so distraught Herzog insisted she be allowed to go upstairs and lie down.

That turned out to be fortunate, because Tear got a call shortly after: a unit had found the car Luke took, in a ditch on the side of the road. Luke was on his way to the hospital.

“That idiot!” Anise shrieked, so distraught she couldn’t seem to manage to get her coat on.

“Oh, my. What has Luke done now?”

A man had quietly slipped in during the commotion. He was very tall, slightly built, as fair as any of the fon Fabres but dirty blond with a pair of wire-framed spectacles.

“Uncle!” Anise leapt at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Something terrible’s happened! Luke’s been in a car accident!”

“Oh? Are we calling it an accident?” He raised an eyebrow. “It’s just, after what you told me earlier…”

“This may well be another attempt on Luke’s life, but we don’t want to jump to any conclusions,” Guy said. “Our people will be analyzing the scene and the car to determine what happened. We also need to talk to Luke about it as soon as possible.”

Forensics had long since arrived at the manor to start photographing and gathering evidence there, so Tear and Guy left the scene in their hands and headed for the hospital. Most of the family followed, though they opted not to tell Susanne until they were sure Luke was all right and instead left her in the care of a maid. It did not escape Tear’s notice that Anise and her uncle drove separately from the others.

When they arrived at the hospital, they found the damage to Luke wasn’t as severe as they’d feared. He was conscious, with only a few broken bones, a handful of cuts that needed stitching, and a minor concussion.

“Oh, Luke!” said Anise, nearly tossing his family members aside to reach his bed. “We were so worried! Why would you do such a thing?”

“I was bored,” he huffed, flinching away when she tried to poke at a cut on his forehead. “I’m fine. Though I’m sure as usual you’re all going to ignore me and make a big deal out of everything.”

“Luke, that was very irresponsible of you,” Herzog said.

“Yeah, I know. Think of all the damage to the car.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Of course I know it. You would never miss a chance to make my screwup the centerpiece of your disdain.”

“Luke, please,” Natalia said. “We are all dreadfully worried for you. Won’t you please try to understand our concern?”

Asch remained silent, probably because Natalia would have scolded him for calling Luke an idiot. Tear had a strong feeling he badly wanted to.

“I just want some peace and quiet,” Luke said, turning away from everyone.

Guy spoke up. “We’ll give you that as soon as we can. We’d just—”

“Like to ask me a few questions first, I know, I know. Let’s just get it over with. I have a headache. Make them leave first, will you?”

“I never—!” Natalia started to say.

“We’ll be quick,” Guy assured her. “We’d like him to be able to relax, as I’m sure you would as well, and this seems to be the quickest way to do it.”

“Oh, Luke, please don’t make me leave!” Anise said.

“Fine, fine, Anise can stay, but be quiet, will you?”

Anise hugged his arm and made happy noises. She looked up at Natalia, her expression cat-like and smug.

Natalia shot her a look of pure venom back but didn’t protest as Asch, his hand on the small of her back, led her out of the room.

Anise’s uncle shut the door behind the last fon Fabre, then went to stand on the far side of Luke’s bed without a word. Luke didn’t protest his staying, so neither Tear nor Guy said anything about it.

“Tell us as much as you can about what happened,” Guy said.

“Everybody was being annoying, so I took the spare keys and helped myself to the garage,” Luke said. “Everything was fine until I got to that curve in the road. I tried to slow down a little but when I stepped on the breaks, nothing. I kinda don’t remember exactly what happened next, but I’m guessing I went off the road.”

“The car you took. Is it yours?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Nothing is really ‘mine.’ It is the one I like the most, though. But nobody knew I was going out. It was unplanned. The only way it makes sense as something someone deliberately did to hurt me is if they didn’t care when it happened or who might be in the car at the time.”

“Maybe they didn’t,” Guy said soberly. “Your assailant so far is showing a fairly reckless disregard for human life. We may need to check the other cars to see if they’ve been tampered with, just in case.”

Luke sighed. “So you really think someone is doing this on purpose? And they’re just going to keep trying until something sticks?”

“We’re going to do what we can to keep that from happening.”

Luke looked vaguely annoyed. He glanced over at Tear. “You really don’t talk much, do you?”

“I prefer to listen.”

“That’s all we have to ask for now,” Guy said. “Try to get some rest. Er, but don’t go to sleep, obviously.”

“I’ll keep him awake!” Anise chirped.

“Yeah, you could keep Rip Van Winkle up,” Luke said.

Guy and Tear left them alone. As soon as they stepped back into the hall, the first face that greeted them was not a fon Fabre but their driver, Ginji. He looked like he was about to pass out from nerves.

“Is he going to be all right?” he asked in a hushed voice. “I feel like this is all my fault.”

“He’s going to be fine.” Guy put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

“I’m in charge of looking after the cars, you know,” Ginji went on, in danger of starting to ramble. “I’m not just the driver, I’m also the mechanic. But I drove that car earlier today and it was fine!”

Guy and Tear exchanged glances. “You drove it today?” Guy asked.

“Yes. It was the car I was going to take Luke and Anise out in. I had pulled it around to the front of the house when the statue fell.”

“And there was nothing wrong with the breaks then? You’re sure?”

“Positive. There was nothing wrong with anything. You know I know cars.”

“Who has access to the cars?”

Ginji shook his head. “Anybody. Anybody who has access to the grounds and the house can get to the garage.”

“All right. Thanks for talking to us, Ginji. Can you do me a favor? Check out the cars the family drove over here and make sure there’s nothing wrong, then meet us back at the house to look at the ones in the garage. Okay?”

“Okay.” Ginji nodded. “I’ll see you guys later.” He went to speak to the fon Fabres where they sat just a few feet down the hall.

“You know him,” Tear said.

“What?”

“You know the driver, Ginji. The way you touched his shoulder, the way he said, ‘You know I know cars.’ You already knew him well before today. That could create a conflict of interest.”

Guy scratched the back of his neck. “You don’t miss anything, do you? All right. We used to date. Van already knows, though.”

That surprised Tear. “And he still put you on this case?”

“Yes. So don’t worry about it, okay? I’m not the kind of person who would let that cloud my judgment, and even if I was, you wouldn’t. Did he seem a likely suspect to you?”

“His concern felt genuine to me,” Tear said. “I wouldn’t rule him out. Perhaps he hoped the statue would do the job, and when it didn’t, he took the car back to the garage and sabotaged it. He has greater control over who is in what car and when than anyone, doesn’t he?”

“But he’s also the one most likely to be in the car with them.”

Tear shrugged. “If he knows what cars are and are not safe to drive, he can keep himself out of danger easily.”

Guy sighed. “Well, I know that Ginji is not that kind of person, but you’re right. Until the evidence clears him, he’s suspect.”

“And you sent him to check the cars here in the lot.”

“Luke won’t be riding in either of those cars today, though. Besides, the cars got here safely. If something goes wrong now, he’s drawing a target on his back. Also keep this in mind: Ginji is the car guy. That means he’s either going to go for cars first or not at all. It seems odd to me that he would choose it as a third resort.”

“Maybe he was trying to avoid it, but after the first two attempts failed, he reluctantly turned to familiar territory.”

Guy looked mildly exasperated, but he laughed. “You are ruthless.”

“I don’t want there to be any loose ends. If I can find them, a defense attorney can.”

Guy shrugged. “You’re not wrong about that much.”

Behind them, the door to Luke’s room opened and Anise’s uncle stepped out. “Oh, you’re still here, detectives.”

“Dr. Curtiss,” said Guy.

“Jade, please,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I thought I’d give the lovebirds some privacy.”

“Anise, don’t touch that!” Luke wailed.

“Ah, young love.” Jade smiled placidly.

“If you have a moment, we’d like to ask you some questions,” Guy said.

“Oh, very well. Now is as good a time as any.” He held his arm out toward a cluster of empty chairs on the opposite side of the hall from where the fon Fabres sat.

“So you’re Anise’s uncle?” Guy began once they were seated.

“Correct. I can tell your silent partner is thinking we don’t look anything alike, which is true.”

“There are a number of potential explanations, many of them innocuous,” Tear admitted.

“Indeed.”

“What do you think of your niece’s fiancé?” Guy asked.

“I think that aside from this pesky near-death business, he’s the perfect young man for Anise,” Jade said. “She has a great deal of fondness for him. I’m very supportive of their relationship.”

“A stark contrast to his family.”

“So it would seem. However, that has little to do with me or, quite frankly, with Anise and Luke. They have their own feelings on the subject and those, one would imagine, are the ones that matter the most.”

“So it doesn’t bother you?”

“Very little bothers me.”

“Do you have any ideas of who might want to harm Luke?”

“You may or may not have noticed by now that Luke is not exactly the favorite in his family. They may open up willingly about their disdain for Anise, but it’s somewhat obvious that they already felt similarly about Luke. However, for true malicious will, I suggest you do some digging into Akzeriuth Industries.”

“What’s that?”

“It _was_ a multinational company that had dealings in mining and refining raw materials used for a variety of purposes,” Jade said. “However, it collapsed utterly last year. Thousands lost their jobs.”

“What does that have to do with Luke?”

“There were rumors at the time,” Jade said. “Corporate espionage…”

“Luke was responsible?”

Jade shrugged. “Well, who’s to say? What’s true doesn’t always matter to everyone. What people _believe_ to be true can trump that in almost any circumstance.” His phone went off just then, and he stood. “Oh. I’m terribly sorry, but I must take this. If you have any more questions for me, I trust you’ll be in touch?” Without waiting for an answer, he gave them a nod, then swept off down the hall.

“Corporate espionage?” Guy said. “That seems a bit far-fetched.”

“Like he said, sometimes what people believe is more important than reality, regardless of whether or not it should be,” Tear said.

“Well, people have killed for less than this. Let’s look into it. Ready to check out the fon Fabre garage and then start on interviewing the staff?”

“Wait. One more thing.” Tear led the way down the hall towards the fon Fabres.

The family seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion about something, but they cut it off abruptly when they saw the detectives approaching, and Tear didn’t catch a word of it.

“Is there something else you need?” Asch asked, customary scowl in place.

“We have some uniforms on the way to stand guard outside his room,” Tear explained.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Natalia said, putting a hand to her heart. “Knowing someone will be keeping an eye on him is going to be such a relief to us all.”

“Yes. Now, Ms. Tatlin mentioned some missing jewelry,” Tear went on.

“Yes. An antique necklace and earrings of my wife’s were stolen last week,” Herzog said. “She kept them in a jewelry box in our room. The whole house was searched, but there’s been no sign of them. I have no doubt someone deliberately took them.”

“Do you have any suspicions?”

There was silence.

“Well, if they’re not going to say it,” Asch said at last. “They both think it was Anise.”

“Asch!” Natalia gasped. “Look, the fact of the matter is, she had access to them and it makes the most sense that she took them.”

“But she was the one who told us about them,” Tear pointed out.

“To throw suspicion off herself, obviously.”

“Right now we’re only interested in keeping Luke safe,” Herzog said. “The theft is a private family matter, and unrelated.”

“Unless Anise did both,” Tear said, watching for their reactions. Nobody seemed to want to deny it.

“All right,” Tear said at last, long after letting the silence become uncomfortable. “Thank you. We’ll be in touch.”

“What did you get from that?” Guy asked as they made their way to the parking lot.

“They think Anise is trash, to put it bluntly. They’ll believe she’s capable of anything. I don’t know if we can trust them to be objective about her.”

“Who do you think took the jewelry?”

“I don’t think it’s relevant to our case. If Luke knew who took it, he has had ample opportunity to say so.”

They met Ginji back at the fon Fabre garage. He said the cars driven to the hospital were both in perfect working order. The car Jade and Anise had rode in wasn’t one of the fon Fabre fleet, but he had checked it out anyway.

Guy whistled when they saw what was still in the garage. “And this is what’s left when two are missing. Gosh. _Gosh_.”

“He really likes cars,” Ginji said to Tear.

“You don’t say.” Tear cleared her throat. “Are these drivable?”

“Are they ever! I could just jump behind the wheel and—” Guy saw the expression on her face. “Oh. Uh. Well, let’s find out.”

Tear’s chest was feeling uncomfortably tight. While Guy and Ginji were distracted admiring each car as much as they were inspecting them, she fished a bottle of pills out of her jacket pocket and popped two in her mouth. Both men were too preoccupied to notice, and it eventually became obvious that none of the other cars had been tampered with.

“The lab said the breaks on Luke’s car were cut,” Guy said once they left Ginji. “It had to have happened after Ginji put it back in the garage, after the statue fell, when we were questioning everyone.”

“That eliminates almost no one,” Tear said. “It wouldn’t have taken very long to do it, and everybody was moving around too much for us to be sure of their whereabouts at every minute.”

“Where does that leave us?”

“After we finish interviewing everyone who was working here today, I want to follow Jade’s lead and look into Akzeriuth Industries. If we can find a link between that and someone on staff, I think we’ll be onto something.”

“And if not?”

“Anise is still the best and the most obvious suspect.”

“But I thought…?”

“Based on what we know, I don’t think she did it. But what I think doesn’t matter. The evidence is what matters.”

It took them the rest of the day to speak with the staff members who’d been on duty during the incident. It turned out the fon Fabres personally employed a lot of people: several maids, a chef, a gardener, even a pilot, who was also Ginji’s younger sister. Most of them had little to say about the family that wasn’t positive.

“Seldom was heard a discouraging word,” Guy said. “What do you make of that?”

“It honestly makes me more suspicious than it doesn’t,” Tear said. “Nobody likes their job this much.”

“Not even you?”

She ignored him. “However, I suspect it has more to do with unfounded concerns we might be reporting back to the fon Fabres than it does with trying to cover up an attempted murder. No motive that I’ve heard really makes sense.”

“That’s the thing that gets me. People gossip. It happens everywhere you go. If there was a motive, someone would have said something to suggest it, you know what I mean? Someone would have offerred up a rumor, an idea, a _whisper_ , but we’ve heard nothing that fits. And this feels too personal to me not to have something like that behind it.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“Plus, why would the staff want to do this when they’re the ones who’d have to clean up the mess?” Guy added, only half-joking. “Anyway. Who’s left?”

Tear checked her notes. “Just the majordomo, Ramdas.”

“What the heck’s a majordomo anyway?”

“The head of the staff,” Tear said. “The chief steward.”

“So… the butler?”

“Don’t even say it.”

The interview with Ramdas went like all the others: he had seen nothing suspicious; he could think of no one who would want to harm Master Luke; he would let them know if anything relevant occurred to him. It was obvious to Tear and Guy they weren’t going to find anything else out at the manor, so they drove back to the precinct.

The rest of the evening was spent mostly getting all their ducks in a row. Tear organized the notes she’d gathered during the interviews, looking for any patterns or inconsistencies she may have missed before, but there was nothing she could see. The evidence forensics had gathered—photographs, diagrams, even the crossbow itself—she reviewed and sorted. It was obvious at this point that these were not accidents, and it was hard to see anyone other than Luke as the intended target, not even Anise. If the culprit really was a fon Fabre out to get her, they were taking unnecessary risks with the lives of their own family members. That seemed counterintuitive if protecting the family, its business, and its image was the ultimate goal.

Tear wanted to keep going, the lack of real progress immensely frustrating to her, but her shift had come to an end, and she and Guy reluctantly clocked out for the night. She didn’t even realize how exhausted she was until her head hit the pillow.


	2. Day 2

Back at the precinct the next morning over cups of hot coffee, Tear and Guy wasted no time in getting straight back to work. Guy checked in with forensics to see what they had gathered while Tear began her research into Akzeriuth Industries. Unsurprisingly, the mass layoffs had dire consequences for those affected. People lost homes, declared bankruptcy—there were reports of broken families and suicide. If Luke was responsible, as Jade hinted, there were plenty of people who had cause to want him dead.

Luke wasn’t mentioned anywhere by name, but the collapse was precipitated by Kimlasca Properties somehow getting ahold of trade secrets. Even without Jade’s tip, Tear would never have presumed that to be coincidence. The CEO of Kimlasca Properties was none other than Ingobert Lanvaldear, Natalia’s father. Herzog fon Fabre was his COO. Asch also worked for the company. Luke wasn’t on the books—Tear had assumed he was some kind of dilettante. Perhaps he was more shrewd than he appeared.

Something about all that didn’t seem right, though. It was hard to see Luke as anything other than exactly what he presented himself as: a grating, lazy, self-absorbed rich boy. His family’s thinly-veiled disdain for him didn’t fit the picture either. If he was a trusted corporate spy, those relationships would likely be a lot stronger.

Tear’s chest felt tight again. She took a surreptitious glance around the room but nobody was looking, so she quickly helped herself to the bottle of pills in her pocket.

“Excuse me. Are you Detective Grants?”

Tear looked up from her computer. Standing in front of her desk was a petite—not even five foot tall—young woman. Her hair was tucked under a black cashmere beret and she held her black and pink coat against her body like a shield.

“That’s me, yes.”

“I was told you’re the one to talk to about Anise Tatlin.”

Tear glanced back at Guy, but he was on the phone. “Yes. Have a seat. Can you tell me your name?”

The young woman sat primly. “Arietta Wilde. I was schoolmates with Anise. She’s not the person you think she is.”

“How do you mean?”

The fire in Arietta’s eyes only seemed amplified by the tears threatening to form there. “Well, for starters, she’s a mean and terrible person. And she killed her last husband.”

That got Tear’s attention. It was impossible the fon Fabres knew anything about this or it would have been the first thing they mentioned. “Anise was married before?”

“Yes. His name is— _was_ Ion Jue. His father is Evenos Jue.”

Tear knew the name. Evenos Jue was an extremely well-known and influential televangelist for the Church of Lorelei. His family had a lot of money and power. They would make an excellent target for a gold digging serial black widow, if that was indeed Anise’s true nature.

“And you say Anise killed him?”

“Yes. Nobody listened to me at the time but now here it is, a year later and she’s doing it again!”

“What makes you say she—”

“Because she _did_. They ruled it natural causes because Ion was sick. He had a chronic lung disease. But I know that wasn’t what killed him. It was Anise. She did something—poison or smothering or something—and made everybody think it happened on its own.”

“These are extremely serious accusations to make. Do you have any proof?”

“You mean aside from the fact that Anise is exactly the kind of person who would do something like that?” Arietta put a small stack of ledgers on Tear’s desk. “Nobody else wanted to investigate so I did a little of my own. Right after Ion died, Anise disappeared and so did a large amount of the Jues’ money.”

Tear pulled the ledgers over and started to flip through them. “Thank you for coming forward with this information, Ms. Wilde. We’ll give it some serious consideration.”

“That’s what you people said last time.” Arietta’s voice was pure venom. “It was a lie. Nothing was done.”

“I can’t comment on that, but I can assure you I intend to follow every lead.”

Arietta sniffed. “I’ll believe it when I see Anise in handcuffs.”

“If that’s where the evidence leads, it’s what will happen.”

Arietta finally left, not exactly satisfied but willing to let Tear do her job. Tear was starting to feel a little overwhelmed, but she took a deep breath and got out a notepad to make a list of what she needed to do. Sometimes just putting pencil to paper seemed to make things more manageable.

“I just got the weirdest tip call,” Guy said.

“I had a pretty weird conversation just now myself,” Tear said.

“Not weirder than mine. You go first, though.”

Tear explained Arietta’s suspicions. “She was extremely upset. I believe her vendetta against Anise is of a personal nature.”

Guy leafed through the ledgers absently. “What is it about that girl that inspires so much dislike?”

“Maybe it’s because she kills people and steals their money.”

“You believe that?”

Tear shrugged. “I’m not sure I believe something like this is a coincidence. Anyway, tell me about your call.”

“As if we need this to get anymore complicated, right?” Guy pulled up the recording of the call and played it back for Tear.

“Hello, am I speaking to the detective in charge of Jade Curtiss?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess you could… Ahem. I’m Detective Guy Cecil. Who is this?”

“I wish to remain anonymous. You may call me… _the Rose_.”

Guy rolled his eyes at Tear.

“When researching Jade, you may discover there are no records of him before a certain point. That was because he was once known as Jade _Balfour_.”

“Okay. Do you have any information pertaining to a crime Dr. Curtiss—or Balfour—may have committed, Mr… the Rose?”

“Aside from being a duplicitous snake?”

“Yeah… aside from that.”

“And making promises he doesn’t intend to keep?”

“That’s not a crime either.”

“Well it should be! Anyway, I just wanted to tell you he was lying about his name so who knows what else he could be lying about?”

“Okay, sir. It’s also not a crime to change your name but we appreciate your concern.”

“Jade did it! Whatever you’re investigating, he’s involved. So says I, Sa—I mean, _the Rose_!” He began to laugh in a way that could only be described as maniacal before the call ended abruptly.

Tear and Guy were silent for a long time.

“You win,” Tear said finally.

“Yeah. But get this. He’s right about the Jade Curtiss identity. It only goes back about two decades. The man is forty five years old, but there’s nothing from before his mid-twenties. He didn’t exist before then.”

“So he changed his name. Like you said, not a crime.”

“But there’s no record of it. I would have had no idea where to look without that tip.”

“Anything about Jade Balfour he may have been trying to hide?”

“I haven’t had the chance to look too much, but Jade Balfour is a real person, a cofounder of Nebilim Labs.”

“Big pharma.”

“Yeah. It’s probably a dead end, but it can’t hurt to check out Nebilim Labs. There’s a lot of money tied up in that, and even if there’s no apparent connection…”

“Money and murder do go hand in hand.” Tear picked up her notepad. “I want to run background checks on all our key players. I also want to vet the staff at the fon Fabre house, especially with regards to any possible connections to Akzeriuth Industries. And there’s the information about Anise’s first marriage and the supposed missing Jue money. We’ll have to get these ledgers to forensic accounting to confirm.”

“And now there’s Nebilim Labs too.”

“Let’s knock that out first. I think that’s going to turn out to be a dead end, like you said. Jade Curtiss is obviously shady, but that doesn’t make him our suspect. This anonymous caller’s personal grudge is the most transparent one we’ve seen yet.”

“What gave you that idea?” Guy said with a smirk.

At Nebilim Labs they were met by a young man who introduced himself as Dr. Reiner and led them inside.

“Here at Nebilim Labs, we strive for quality and innovation,” Reiner explained as they walked. “As you may know, we are at the forefront in treating and curing diseases. Most recently, we synthesized the first and only known treatment for Chronic Pulmonary Qliphoth Toxicosis. It’s currently in the trial phase, but data already shows dramatic improvements in the prognosis for sufferers.”

“Dr. Reiner, do you recognize the name Jade Balfour?” Guy asked before Reiner could try to sell them something.

“ _Dr_. Jade Balfour? Yes, of course. He and Dr. Gneiss began Nebilim Labs together twenty years ago. He left, oh, I’m not sure exactly when, but it was quite some time ago. I don’t know why he left or what he’s doing now—something brilliant, I’m sure. Dr. Gneiss will have more information for you. Ah, there he is. Detectives, Dr. Saphir Gneiss.”

Saphir was a thin, angular man in a motorized wheelchair. He wore a pressed black pinstriped suit with a purple satin tie and round-framed glasses. His short white hair was parted and combed neatly. He obviously cared a great deal about his appearance and how he was perceived by others.

“Hello, detectives,” said Saphir, taking over for Reiner and leading them on to his office. “What brings you here?”

Tear and Guy exchanged surreptitious glances. It was immediately obvious Saphir was “the Rose.” There was absolutely no mistaking that voice. Saphir didn’t seem to realize how transparent his whole charade was, however, and in that case Tear thought it was better to keep the knowledge under their hats for the time being, the better to let him put his own foot in it.

“We’re investigating Dr. Jade Curtiss, also known as Dr. Jade Balfour. Can you tell us a little about your work together?” Guy asked.

“Oh?” Saphir tried to appear innocent, but even if Tear didn’t know what he was hiding it would have seemed fishy. “What did he do?”

“We’re just trying to clear a few things up. What is the nature of your relationship with Dr. Balfour?”

“I suppose you could say at one point we were friends, but that’s not the case any longer.”

“Friends?”

“We grew up together. Went to school together.”

“Does he have any family?”

“Just his sister. You’ll know her, of course.”

“No. We met his niece, though.”

Saphir raised an eyebrow. “He doesn’t have a niece. His sister has no children.”

“But you said you were no longer friends. Isn’t it possible she’s had children and you just never heard about them?”

“No, it’s not.” Saphir spoke slowly, as if he was trying very hard to be patient with a pair of morons. “His sister is Mayor Nephry Osborne.”

Guy looked chagrined. “Oh.”

“You see now.”

“We do.”

Most of what Saphir had to tell them didn’t seem to have any relevance to the case—or anything at all really—so as soon as they could extricate themselves from his verbal grasp, they bid him farewell and headed back to the precinct.

“I am such an idiot,” Guy said. “I saw he had a sister, but I didn’t think to look into it. I didn’t even notice her name.”

“I don’t think it really changes things much,” said Tear. “Beyond that it means he and Anise lied about being related.”

“Family doesn’t always mean blood.”

Tear shrugged. That was true, but in this instance it was probably something other than an emotional bond that led Anise and Jade to claim familial ties.

The rest of the afternoon she and Guy spent on background checks. What she’d gotten from the interviews was borne out with facts. It became clear that if any of the staff had a connection to Akzeriuth Industries, there was no obvious record of it.

“That Natalia does a lot of charity work,” Guy said, conversationally. “I mean, a _lot_. Daughters of Baticul, the Knights of Oracle, Hands Across Rotelro, the list goes on.”

Tear waited for him to get to the point.

He shrugged. “I just thought it was interesting. Hey, did you know she was adopted?”

She peered over his shoulder at the computer. “No. That’s surprising.”

“The records are closed, but she was an infant when the Lanvaldears took her in, so it’s probably not relevant.”

Tear agreed. “Found anything else noteworthy?”

“No, but I haven’t gotten to Anise yet. After everything else I’m a little worried about what I’m gonna find when I turn that rock over. Anything interesting with the staff?”

Tear shook her head. “Nothing that jumps out. I think I’m going to do some more digging into Kimlasca Properties. Akzeriuth is probably not the only company of its kind.”

“Oh, it’s definitely not,” Guy said. “While I’m not saying there won’t be anything down that rabbit hole, why would they go after Luke? He’s the less-favored son of the number two guy. Wouldn’t Natalia make a more appealing target? Not only is she basically the princess of the company, she seems pretty involved herself, certainly more than Luke.”

“That’s something I intend to keep in mind,” Tear assured him. “I believe an explanation will make itself apparent once we know more.”

She returned to her own desk and started pulling up records on Kimlasca Properties.

“Everything going well?”

Tear glanced up, then jumped to her feet. “Deputy Chief Oslo.”

Giselle Oslo, her brother’s second-in-command, held up her hand. “No need to get up. I just wanted to check in.”

“We’re pursuing a number of leads right now,” Tear said. “Some of them are especially promising. Make no mistake, this case will be solved, and soon.”

“I trust you have everything under control. How are you and your partner getting along?”

“Guy? We see things differently at times but I believe both of us are invested in ascertaining the truth.”

“That’s good to hear. Well, keep up the good work.”

“I will!” Tear watched the deputy chief leave, still standing at her desk.

“What did the deputy chief want?” Guy asked.

“Just checking in. Did you find something?”

“Well, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that Anise lied about something else. She’s not an orphan. Her parents are alive and well and—get this—still working for Jue Ministries.”

“Huh. She probably lied about being an orphan to make herself seem more sympathetic. It also makes it more difficult to question why Jade is always hanging around if he’s supposedly her only family.”

“Yeah. Your tipster Arietta Wilde was also right about her having been married before, but I never thought that was a lie. Ion Jue died last year. He had that Chronic Pulmonary Qliphoth Toxicosis, and it looks like there were complications. Neither the ME who looked at him nor the family seems to think there was foul play. I want to hear back from forensic accounting about those ledgers before I make a judgment call, though.”

“Agreed.”

That settled, they returned to their individual research. At last Tear was able to sit back down and continue looking into the business side of the fon Fabre family. The most recent news was about a joint venture with Malkuth Worldwide. Kimlasca Properties was looking into launching a luxury cruise ship, the Princess Natalia. Well, Guy hadn’t been wrong about Natalia being the princess of the company. That seemed an unlikely avenue for who might want to kill Luke, however. It all appeared to be good news there.

Going back further, however, revealed a much less rosy history. Kimlasca Properties was fairly ruthless in its business practices and they had caused a lot of people to lose a lot of money over the years. Some fifteen or so years before the collapse of Akzeriuth, a similar incident had happened with a company called Hod Consolidated. Again there were reports of thousands left destitute, ruined, penniless. More than one person had been driven to suicide. However, as Guy said, Luke seemed an unlikely target for any ire. He’d been a child at the time, an even less likely corporate spy than he was now. If someone bore a grudge, Herzog, Asch, Natalia, and Natalia’s father Ingobert were all much better victims. Tear was sure that Luke really was the one intended for these deadly traps, though.

Still, one peculiar thing did catch her eye. Ingobert Lanvaldear had a minor legal scuffle with someone named Badaq Oakland a few years before. The whole thing was unremarkable and ultimately settled out of court, but Tear knew the name Badaq Oakland, even though he was more commonly known as Largo the Black Lion, a notorious underworld figure. It seemed small, but it put an attempted homicide victim within spitting distance of organized crime. Talking to someone like Largo was never guaranteed to bear any fruit, but she was determined to chase down anything that felt like a lead, and this certainly did.

Tracking down Largo’s current whereabouts turned out not to be so difficult. He was someone the police seemed to always have their eye on in connection with something or another. He was slippery, though, and had certainly been charged with only a fraction of the crimes he had committed. That would make him cagey, but since Tear wasn’t looking to charge him with anything, it was possible he would be more forthcoming than he would be otherwise.

“I might have something,” she told Guy, explaining her findings.

“Largo the Black Lion? Yeah, I’ll say that’s worth checking out.” He stood, putting on his coat. “That guy’s got a lot of bodies associated with his name.”

They found Largo at his favorite bar, the Chesedonia Oasis. He would have been difficult to miss under any circumstances—the man was utterly massive, nearly seven feet tall and built of solid rock. Up close, his face really did look rather leonine, especially with his dark facial hair. Tear found herself utterly unintimidated by him, however.

“Badaq Oakland?” She showed him her badge. “Mind if we have a few words with you?”

“The police want to talk to me? Must be Gnomeday.”

The young man next to him snickered into his drink.

Still, he moved to a table with them and even offered to buy them a round, which they both refused.

“I wanted to ask you about your run-in with Ingobert Lanvaldear,” Tear said.

Largo seemed surprised. “That? Really? Is he filing a complaint against me again? Because I’ve stood by the terms of our settlement.”

“No, Mr. Lanvaldear doesn’t even know we’re talking to you. I just want to know what that was all about. Did it have anything to do with the fon Fabres?”

“Hmph. Since it’s old news anyway. I suppose it’s related to the fon Fabres, indirectly. Mr. Lanvaldear took exception to me being at his daughter’s wedding. He filed a restraining order. I contested it. In the end, I agreed to stay away on my own, and he chose to drop the matter.”

“Why were you at the wedding?”

“To pay my respects to the bride and groom.”

“What’s your relationship to them?”

He bristled slightly, but for the most part he kept his irritation out of his face and voice. “There is none. It was big news. I like weddings. I wanted to pay my respects.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Largo raised an eyebrow, utterly unperturbed by her suspicions. “Prove it.”

Tear couldn’t and they both knew it.

“Natalia,” Guy said suddenly. “It was about her, wasn’t it?”

Largo said nothing.

“She’s your daughter.”

Tear thought that was an outlandish conclusion to leap to, and she would have said so in private, except Largo’s expression betrayed him utterly. He shifted slightly and tried to appear neutral, but it wasn’t working. He was clearly uncomfortable.

“She has no idea,” Guy pressed.

Largo continued not acknowledging them for another moment, then finally he shook his head. “But I agreed with Lanvaldear that it’s better this way. That’s why the two of us decided to settle the matter quietly out of court. I just… wanted to see her that day.”

“What are your opinions on the family she married into?”

“I have none, particularly. I don’t know much about them. I don’t know much about her. Is there a point to this?”

“If you did have a problem with them, what would you do?”

“Are you accusing me of something, Detective?”

“Not at all. But any father who would risk revealing a secret that’s been kept for over two decades to see his daughter get married clearly still has strong feelings about her well-being.”

“I’m not her father. Ingobert Lanvaldear is. That’s how she sees it and that’s how the law sees it.”

“But it’s not how you see it.”

“I have nothing more to say on the subject.”

“Guy,” Tear said suddenly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Look. At the bar. That woman. That’s Arietta Wilde.”

“What? That can’t be coincidence.” Guy turned back to Largo. “Do you know Arietta Wilde?”

“You’re drawing this conclusion based on the fact that we’re both at the same bar at the same time? I’m unimpressed, Detective. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

Tear stood and crossed back to the bar. “Ms. Wilde?”

“Yes? Oh! Detective Grants. Did you have more questions for me?” She blinked, realizing something. “How did you know I was here?”

“We didn’t. Do you know that man?” She gestured to where Largo was still sitting.

Arietta looked. Largo looked back, his gaze steady. “No,” she said to Tear. “I’ve seen him around, but I don’t know him.”

Tear was unconvinced.

“Hang on a second,” Guy said. He turned to the man Arietta was talking to, the one who’d been sitting next to Largo. He pulled the man’s hat off. “Ion Jue?”

The man swiveled his stool around, leaning back against his elbows on the bar. “You’d think when your brother dies people would stop mistaking you for him, but apparently not.”

“What the hell is going on here?” Guy demanded.

“Nothing is going on!” Arietta said. “I told Detective Grants I knew Ion. Why would it be surprising I know Sync? They were _brothers_.”

“You mean to tell me you’ve never heard of the miracle Jue triplets?” Sync said. “Some detectives you are.”

“I didn’t know you were _identical_ triplets,” Guy said, annoyed. “That’s exceedingly rare.”

“Yeah, that’s why it’s a _miracle_ , stupid. After four miscarriages, Lorelei saw fit to bless this family with three identical bouncing baby boys. Cut out the parts about medical science and in vitro fertilization and boom, miracle.”

“But Ion died,” Tear said. “That seems less miraculous.”

“Lorelei giveth and Lorelei taketh away. And then Lorelei giveth again in the form of copious donations from a sympathetic congregation.”

“You don’t seem that concerned about your brother’s passing. You don’t think his widow murdered him?”

“Anise? No.”

“Sync!” Arietta protested.

“Ion was sick. He was always sick, ever since we were kids. It’s surprising he lived as long as he did. Arietta’s the only one who thinks Anise killed him, and that’s because she hates Anise for marrying Ion before she could.”

“Sync! You’re—you’re terrible!” Arietta threw her drink in his face, then stormed out.

Behind them, Largo calmly watched Arietta go, then turned back a little too pointedly to make eye contact with Tear. If he wanted to follow Arietta, he was far too shrewd to make a move where Tear could see it.

For his part, Sync barely flinched the whole time. He coolly wiped his eyes clear and accepted the towel offered by the bartender. “Believe it or not, that is not the first time that’s happened to me.”

“So Arietta was in love with Ion?” Guy asked.

“I guess, I dunno. She definitely wanted him all to herself and never forgave Anise for showing up. Anise is selfish and money-grubbing, but she doesn’t have the guts to kill someone. I wouldn’t trust anything Arietta has to say on the subject.”

“ _You_ seem to have a lot of opinions on the matter.”

Sync scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Ion was the favorite. Everybody doted on him, _venerated_ him. He was the star of our little family drama. It was impossible not to know what was going on with him, no matter how hard I tried. People said they were surprised when he died, but they weren’t really. They couldn’t have been.”

“Do you know Largo? You were having a drink with him.”

“I was having a drink _near_ him, and you really can’t prove otherwise.” He put his hat back on and pulled down the brim, turning his stool back to the bar. “Are we done here?”

Guy and Tear left more confused than ever.

“How did you know about Largo and Natalia?” Tear asked.

“I didn’t. I had a wild hunch and decided to test it,” Guy said.

“That was a hunch?”

Guy shrugged. “What do you think of him and Arietta and Sync all knowing each other?”

“Like Arietta said, there’s nothing surprising about her and Sync,” Tear said. “But I don’t…”

Guy waited for her to keep going, but she didn’t. “Tear?”

There was something wrong, like an itch at the back of her brain. Finally she shook her head. “No. It’s nothing. I don’t know what to make of this. It’s getting late, but tomorrow I want to talk to the fon Fabres again.”

Even though she was off the clock, Tear kept thinking about the case when she returned to her spartan studio. It was like simultaneously everyone and no one wanted to kill Luke. Her chest was bothering her as much as this mystery was, so she helped herself to more of her pills before settling into bed.


	3. Day 3

Tear’s brain was still working when she woke up the next morning. How she managed to sleep at all was beyond her, but she was reasonably well-rested and alert. A quick morning workout and a fortifying breakfast later and she was ready to go with Guy down to Kimlasca Properties, where Herzog, Asch, and most likely Natalia would be. They would also get the chance to speak with Natalia’s father Ingobert. He was potentially a person of interest but they hadn’t talked to him at all yet.

They found Asch outside his office, speaking with his secretary. “And tell them I want that report on my desk tomorrow, Noir. No more excuses.”

“My. Aren’t we always jumping through hoops for you,” his secretary, Noir, said.

Tear and Guy exchanged glances. It escaped neither of their notice that the woman was absolutely stunning, with a low-cut blouse that left very little to the imagination.

“And where are York and Urushi? I need to talk to them about this Malkuth thing,” Asch went on, ignoring the detectives.

“I have no idea, but I’ll try to get in touch.”

“What? Don’t you carpool with them?”

“Please.” Noir tossed her short hair. “Have you _seen_ that clown car York drives?”

Asch rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just see that they come talk to me as soon as possible.” Finally he acknowledged Tear and Guy. “Detectives. What must I help you with today?”

“We just had a few follow-up questions for you, if that’s all right,” Guy said.

“I told you everything I wanted to yesterday.”

“We’ve discovered some new facts and would like to go over them with you.”

Asch opened his office door. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Guy couldn’t quite keep a snicker from escaping.

Asch was on him in an instant. “What? What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, I finally see the resemblance between you and your brother.”

Asch’s glower deepened. “We’re identical twins. Only a blind person couldn’t see the resemblance.”

“Or someone with prosopagnosia,” Tear added, shrugging when they turned to look at her.

“That’s not exactly what I meant, but it’s beside the point,” Guy said. “Can you tell us a little more about Anise Tatlin?”

“What’s there to tell? She’s a loud, obnoxious, gold-digging brat. Perfect for Luke, I’d say.”

Tear surreptitiously studied the photos on Asch’s desk, at least the ones she could see from her vantage point. Most of them were of Natalia, or of him and Natalia. There was one of his mother. And there was one family portrait that caught her eye. There hadn’t been any portraits sitting out at the fon Fabre house that she saw, but it was possible they were kept in a room she and Guy never went to. There were a lot of rooms in that house. This family portrait was of Asch, Luke, and their parents. Asch and Herzog were glaring, Susanne was smiling gently, and Luke was grinning. The portrait couldn’t have been more than a couple of years old, to go by their faces, but Luke had long hair, possibly even longer than Asch’s. He’d cut it all off recently. She made a mental note to mention it to Guy.

“So you don’t object to their union the way your wife does?” Guy asked.

Asch made a vague hmphing sound. “I do object, because it’s another example of Luke doing what he wants with no regard for the rest of the family or the work we do.”

“So Luke isn’t an employee here?” Tear asked.

“Tch, no. Ingobert offered, but Luke wouldn’t have it. He would likely have been cut off by now if it weren’t for Mother.”

“She holds that much sway, huh?” Guy asked.

Asch didn’t seem to want to answer that one.

“You don’t have a very high opinion of your brother, do you.”

“If you keep going in this direction, I will end this interview and call my attorney.”

“All right,” Guy said, quickly backing off. “Has Kimlasca Properties ever had dealings with Nebilim Labs?”

“No. We’ve yet to venture into pharmaceuticals. Why?”

Guy shook his head. “Just clearing something up. What about Jue Ministries?”

“Even more no.”

“So you’re not familiar with Evenos Jue or his family?”

“No. Where is this going?”

“That secretary of yours. She’s pretty, huh?”

“Are you serious?” Asch sat forward in his chair. “Are you trying to score a date while on the job?”

“What’s your relationship with her exactly?”

That did it. Asch stood, pointing at the office door. “Out.”

“Leaving so soon?” Noir said kittenishly as they passed her desk.

Guy looked like he wanted to ask her something, but Asch was watching from the door of his office, so instead he gave her a small nod. “Afraid so, though I wish we could stay and chat. It was nice to meet you, miss.”

Noir laughed lightly. “Oh, you charmer. Feel free to come back any time. Ta-ta!”

“If you push him too hard, he won’t talk to us anymore,” Tear pointed out as they returned to the elevator, their next stop Herzog’s office upstairs.

“He will if his mother says so.”

“I think you’re way off-base about the secretary. He’s far too devoted to his wife, and their body language doesn’t suggest it. Well, hers might, but I somewhat get the impression she’s that way with a lot of people. His was stiff and formal with her.”

“You don’t think he’s that way with everyone?”

“Not his wife.”

“Anyway, I agree with you. I just wanted to rile him up a little. He’s got quite a temper.”

“Are you thinking that makes him our suspect?”

“The opposite, actually,” Guy said. “The attempts on Luke’s life were all fairly passive, hands-off, planned out. Someone with Asch’s temper seems much more likely to do it quick and dirty, right then and there.”

Tear considered this. “I could also see him hiring someone.”

“Someone this incompetent?”

“True. Say, did you notice the photo on Asch’s desk? Luke also had long hair until recently.”

“So? He cut his hair. People do that every day, for lots of reasons. Not like you to get a hunch over something trivial. What are you thinking?”

Tear shrugged. He wasn’t wrong, really. “People often change their hairstyles dramatically after a big change in their lives.”

“True, but it could be anything. A breakup, for example. I cut all my hair off after Ginji and I ended things.”

“You had long hair?”

“No.”

Tear sighed. Message received.

Herzog had sentiments similar to Asch, though he phrased them a little less directly. It looked as if they were going to get nowhere until Tear said abruptly, “Mr. fon Fabre, what can you tell me about Akeriuth Industries?”

Herzog barely reacted, but there was a long silence. “That name doesn’t ring any bells. We do business with so many other companies, and I’m afraid my memory isn’t as young as it used to be.”

“What about Hod Consolidated? Do you remember them?” Guy demanded. Tear was a little taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor, like he was ready to pick a fight.

“Detectives, if you came here to talk business, that’s another matter entirely. I thought you were investigating the attempts on my son’s life, however.”

“You don’t think Kimlasca Properties’ activities could possibly be related to that?” Tear asked.

“I don’t see how. Luke doesn’t even work here. I’m happy to help with things that are relevant, detectives, but I’m afraid if you want to delve into my business practices you’re going to have to do so through my lawyer. Is there anything else?”

There wasn’t, so they left to find Ingobert.

Ingobert Lanvaldear was older than Herzog, with iron gray hair and an impressive horseshoe mustache. He had impeccable posture, just like Natalia. For some reason, his presence didn’t seem quite as strong as hers, though. Then again, that would have been a difficult feat to accomplish.

“Ah, detectives,” he said, moving some papers aside and clicking around on his computer briefly before giving them his full attention. “I was wondering when you would get to me. Have a seat.”

“Thank you for seeing us,” Guy said as he and Tear accepted the offer. “We’ll try to keep this brief. Do you have any ideas about who might want to harm your daughter’s brother-in-law?”

“Absolutely none. Luke is a dear boy. He may seem abrasive, but underneath he’s very compassionate.”

Tear didn’t know whether Ingobert was lying or terribly naïve. Perhaps he was simply being unnecessarily kind.

“How long have you known the fon Fabres?” Guy asked.

“Oh, just about forever. Susanne and I grew up together. She’s like a sister to me. There’s no one I can depend on more than Herzog, and I care for the boys as I would my own sons,” Ingobert said. “They both call me Uncle, you know.”

“What can you tell me about Badaq Oakland?”

Ingobert cocked his head slightly, as if in thought. “I don’t believe I know such a person.”

“That’s interesting, because there are records of you taking him to court six years ago.”

Ingobert cast his eyes down at his desk. “I have a lot of legal dealings with a lot of people.”

“Sir, we already know he’s Natalia’s birth father,” Guy said.

Ingobert was quiet for a moment, then with great effort he swallowed. “Why do you ask about him? Do you think he could be responsible for this? Why would he want to hurt Luke, though?”

“Perhaps he mistook Luke for Asch,” Tear ventured.

“Asch? You think Largo might want to hurt Asch?”

“Perhaps he or an associate of his got the twins mixed up.”

Ingobert shook his head, trying to digest this idea. “I can’t… but Asch and Natalia love each other dearly. Asch would never do anything to make her unhappy. I’m not speaking hyperbolically when I say he would die for her.”

“Perhaps that’s the idea.”

“I suppose… anything is possible with someone like Largo. He’s a very dangerous person, as I’m sure you know. Please don’t tell Natalia,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what she would do if she knew she had the blood of a man like that.”

Ingobert’s intercom went off. “Sir, your daughter is here for lunch.”

Ingobert jumped, looking as guilty as a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. He glanced up, his eyes meeting Tear’s. “You think I’m terrible for not telling her.”

That was true, and it impressed Tear that he could ascertain that. Or perhaps he couldn’t and was merely projecting his own feelings onto her in an effort to dodge responsibility for them. “This is not the place for my opinion, sir. I would never presume to tell you how to manage your family affairs.”

Ingobert returned to studying his desktop. “If you were in my position, you would have told her long ago. You must find me an awful coward.”

Tear hesitated. “I will say objectively that things like this have a way of coming out whether you want them to or not.”

Ingobert had nothing to say to that.

Guy cleared his throat. “Thank you for seeing us today, Mr. Lanvaldear. We’ll let you go now.”

Ingobert nodded wordlessly, and Tear and Guy saw themselves out.

“Detectives, I didn’t know you were here,” Natalia said as they passed her in the outer office. “I’m not sure what you expect to find here, but I trust you will abandon any avenues that prove themselves to be immaterial, as I have no doubts this one will? I only ask out of deepest concern for Luke, understand.”

They assured her that they would, but it was painfully obvious to Tear that if it were at all possible, Natalia would take full control of the investigation in a heartbeat.

“Do you really think she’d be better off knowing?” Guy asked as they headed back down to the parking lot. “About her birth father, I mean.”

“I don’t see why not,” Tear said.

“You wouldn’t, would you. A lot of people prefer a comforting lie, you know.”

“She’s an adult, and a strong one. She’s the last person in the world who needs coddling.”

“Well, I guess you’re right about that. I wonder if he’ll tell her. Anyway, do you really believe what you were saying back there about Asch being a possible target?”

Tear shrugged. “They are identical. Someone less familiar with them could easily mistake one for the other. Perhaps Largo had someone not as competent as he’d hoped try to do the job. Perhaps it’s Arietta, only she decided to go after Luke out of spite for Anise.”

“That seems a bit farfetched…”

“It’s true. A simpler solution is usually better. The evidence is leading us in circles, though. Did accounting ever get back to you about the books?”

Guy snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, I had a message from them this morning. Arietta was right: a lot of money did go missing shortly after Ion died. However, they weren’t able to find a trace of it going to Anise or Jade.”

“Doesn’t mean it didn’t. Either way, I think it’s time to talk to Anise again.”

They found her at the hospital, flitting around Luke’s room humming and arranging the sympathy flowers he’d received. On the bedside table was some kind of stuffed doll, handmade and well-loved from the looks of it, with a button eye and lopsided stitched mouth. Tear couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a cat or a bear or something else entirely, but it was strangely cute. “Hello again, detectives!” Anise sing-songed, drawing Tear’s attention back to her. “Look how much better my darling is doing! They said he can go home tomorrow!”

Luke stared out the window. Tear wondered if he had even noticed them, though it seemed more likely he was ignoring them.

“Are you here to talk to me or Luke?” Anise asked.

“You for now, unless Luke has anything important he wants to tell us?” Guy said.

Luke still didn’t budge.

“Luke? Baby?” Anise prompted.

“Huh?” Luke blinked up at them. “What? Oh. No. Nothing to tell you.”

“Let’s talk in the hall, Ms. Tatlin,” Guy said.

“I’d rather be by my Luke’s side, if that’s all right with you.”

“It’s all right with us, but I’m not sure it will be all right with you. We want to talk to you about Ion Jue.”

Anise’s smile vanished, then reappeared almost as quickly as it had gone. “Let’s talk in the hall. Luke, my sweet, I’ll be right outside. Try not to worry. Tokunaga will be here to watch over you.” She patted the stuffed doll for emphasis, then kissed Luke on the forehead.

He made a vague noncommittal sound before returning his blank gaze to the window.

Outside his room, Tear, Guy, and Anise sat down in the same chairs the detectives had used to speak with Jade the day before. Anise kept smiling, but it no longer quite reached her eyes. “What about Ion?”

“Why didn’t you tell us you’d been married before?” Guy said.

Anise tugged on a curl. “You never asked.”

“And I suppose Luke never asked either?” Tear said.

“Look, his family wants any excuse to hate me. I wasn’t going to give them more, because it’s none of their business anyway. And frankly, the whole thing is still really painful to talk about.”

“Not so painful you’re not ready to marry someone else less than a year later.”

“Everybody grieves differently. I was going to tell Luke, but the time never seemed right. I’m also sure it won’t make a difference to him anyway.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Anise looked at Tear as if she was stupid. “Because we love each other.”

“Then why did you want to talk to us out in the hall?”

“I didn’t want him to hear it like this. I want it to come from me. Besides, I get the feeling you’re about to accuse me of something.”

“You seem awfully young to be working on your second marriage already,” Tear said.

“And you seem awfully old not to be working on any at all,” Anise fired back.

“We’re not here to accuse you of anything right now,” Guy jumped in. “But we received information that Ion’s death may not have been from natural causes.”

For the first time, Anise looked panicked. “What? Who told you that?”

“Do you agree?”

“No.” Anise tried to shrug off her momentary lapse. “No. Ion was really sick. We always knew it was a possibility it could happen and it did. I’m still heartbroken about it, but I’m really glad we had the time together that we did.”

“After his death, a large sum of money disappeared from the Ministries’ coffers.”

Anise blinked. “And you think _I_ took it?”

“What would you think?”

“No. No. Absolutely not. I never got a penny from Ion’s family and I didn’t care. If you want proof, look into my financial records. I’m a spender, not a saver. I’m sure Luke’s family will tell you all about it. But you’ll find no record of me going on any shopping sprees or anything like that, because it didn’t happen. If any money went missing, I don’t know anything about it.”

“We’d also like to talk to you about your parents.”

Anise looked back and forth between the two of them. “I’m guessing you’re not asking me how they died.”

Guy nodded.

“My parents are poor. Like dirt poor. And kind of… I love them dearly, but they are not the sharpest tools in the shed, if you get me. They fell for the Belkend prince scam, for crying out loud. I’m not making that up. It’s not exactly that I’m _embarrassed_ by them, but… they are certainly one more thing Luke’s stupid family would hold against me. So I lied. That’s not a crime.”

“Were you planning on telling Luke this someday, too?” Tear asked, trying to keep the skepticism out of her voice.

Anise’s expression and tone turned haughty. “Luke knows, actually. You can ask him.”

“Does he also know your ‘uncle’ isn’t really?”

Anise rolled her eyes. “No, Jade and I aren’t related by blood. He’s still family, though. We’ve known each other for a long time and he’s really important to me.”

A man was coming down the hall towards them. At first both detectives thought he would pass by, but he stopped in front of them and said, “Hello, Anise.”

Anise went pale upon seeing him. “Mohs. How did you know I was here?”

“Arietta told me.”

Anise clenched her fists. “That Arietta! I swear I’m gonna kill her!” Suddenly she seemed to remember the detectives were there. She turned back to them, giggling nervously and pushing the dimples in her cheeks in with her fingertips. “Just kidding. Figure of speech, you know.”

“You should come home, Anise. Oliver and Pamela are worried about you. And Florian too, of course.”

“Florian…?” Anise said faintly.

Mohs turned to the detectives. “I apologize for not introducing myself. I’m Mohs Friedrichs. I work very closely with Evenos Jue, of Jue Ministries.”

Guy and Tear introduced themselves with accompanying handshakes.

“You must be here about Anise’s current beau.” Mohs shook his head, tutting. “Dreadful business. Our Anise doesn’t seem to have the best of luck, does she.”

“Luke is _fine_ ,” Anise snapped. “He’s going to be _just fine_! I have to go look after him now. If any of you want anything else from me, come back later.” With that, she disappeared into Luke’s room.

“Such a shame about it all, really. Such a sweet girl surrounded by misfortune. If one didn’t know better, one might think she brought it on herself.”

“Mr. Friedrichs, what do you mean?” Tear asked.

“Hm? Not a thing. Here’s my business card. Be a dear and have Anise call me when she’s feeling better, would you?”

Tear stared at Mohs. Mohs stared back. Finally he turned to Guy, who took the card reluctantly. “Good day,” Mohs said, nodding at them before striding away.

“What the hell was that?” Guy asked, holding the card away from his body as if it might be contaminated.

Tear had a hunch, but unlike Guy she was not very willing to play those until she had a better idea of the facts, and this was pure speculation. “I don’t know. Who were those people he mentioned? Oliver and Pamela and Florian?”

“If I remember right from what I read, Oliver and Pamela are Anise’s parents, the ones she said were dead. And Florian I think is the other triplet, Sync and Ion’s brother. Do you think that Mohs was accusing Anise of something?”

Tear shook her head. “Either way, he was definitely threatening her.”

“Agreed. Do you want to try to talk to Anise some more?”

Tear was starting to feel unwell again, but she didn’t want to take anything with Guy standing right there. “No. I don’t think she would be very forthcoming at this time. I think we’ll have better luck elsewhere.”

They found Jade at the fon Fabre manor. He said he had some free time, so he would grant them another interview.

“We want to ask you about Ion Jue and Mohs Friedrichs,” Guy said, cutting to the chase.

“Hm. This is quite the predicament,” Jade said. “I’m afraid those are subjects on which I’d rather not comment.”

“Why not?”

“That would be commenting.”

Tear decided to leave the interview to Guy for a moment. She was starting to feel faint, but she held it down as she excused herself and asked a maid where the restroom was.

After she took some pills and washed up, she realized she was completely turned around, and the maid who’d led her there was nowhere in sight. The fon Fabre manor was like a labyrinth, but she liked to think she had a pretty good memory, so she had some confidence she could find her way back.

She had barely taken a step when something living crossed her path with a soft mew, threading itself around her ankles. It was Mieu.

Tear glanced around again. There was no one in sight. She really shouldn’t—she was a detective, she was on duty, she was a professional, she was… she was…

She squatted down and pet the cat. He leaned into her touch, eyes closed and purr motor running at full power. She scratched behind his ears, under his chin—

“Detective?”

Tear leapt to attention so fast she nearly got vertigo.

Susanne fon Fabre had found her. She was looking even paler than when Tear had last seen her, and she was clearly a little startled by Tear’s slightly over-the-top reaction.

“I’m so sorry,” Tear said quickly. “I had to use the restroom and… this is very unprofessional of me.” Tear was acutely embarrassed. Caught furr-handed. Mieu was still circling her ankles, the telltale purr of her heinous crime. No lawyer would take this case.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, dear. Shall I walk you back to the drawing room?” Susanne was the picture of forbearance.

“That won’t be—”

“Please, I insist. Detective Grants, was it?”

“That’s correct, ma’am.”

“I want to thank you and your partner for all your hard work. You’re very young. How old, if I may ask?”

“I’m twenty-six, ma’am.”

“Oh, even younger than my boys. Don’t your parents worry about you doing such dangerous work?”

“I lost my parents when I was young, ma’am. I was raised by my grandfather and older brother, who is also on the force.”

“I see. Family is so important. Mine is everything to me. I know they can seem difficult, but they all have a lot on their minds. Away from work and terrible situations like this they almost seem like different people.”

Tear did not want to say that true character was how people behaved at their worst, not just their best, but she was certainly thinking it. She could see that Susanne meant every word of her speech. It felt cruel to even think the phrase “train wreck” near her, and nobody had asked for Tear’s opinion anyway.

“Mieu is a very sweet cat, isn’t he?” Susanne went on.

“Ah, yes. Indeed. Very charming.” And soft and cute and fluffy.

“He was a rescue, you know. Luke found him in an alley, half-starved and fighting with some larger cats. I still remember Luke bringing him home. Luke looked almost worse than the cat did, all scratched and bitten up. He was so concerned about saving this one cat’s life. He nursed Mieu back to health himself. That’s the kind of person Luke is. And of course Mieu is devoted to Luke. Though he seems quite fond of you as well.”

Tear could feel herself blushing even as she worked to process this new image of Luke. “Mrs. fon Fabre,” she asked carefully, “do you know anything about Akzeriuth Industries?”

“Akzeriu—oh! So Luke told you about that. Poor boy. He feels _so_ awful about what happened. You don’t think that could be related to all this, do you?”

“Can you tell me a little bit about that? What was Luke’s involvement?”

“Luke feels responsible,” Susanne said. “I’m afraid I don’t know the details. I’m not very involved in the business, by my own choice. Nobody blamed him, of course. As far as I know the whole thing was a terrible accident.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, I can see why the people affected might have a hard time accepting that.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Oh, here we are, dear.” They had reached the drawing room door. “It was lovely chatting with you. Please ask me any more questions you want or need. I may not be in the most robust of health, but I’m not made of glass, either, and I want to help you solve this in any way I can. I mean it when I say I would do anything for my family.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you, ma’am. And I apologize again for the trouble.”

Guy looked at her questioningly when she came in, but she shook her head. She didn’t bother trying to hide the gesture since she knew Jade would pick up on absolutely any exchange between them. He seemed like the kind of man who missed very little. Her brother was similar. Van had a knack for seeing what other people didn’t. It was a skill she lacked, and it frustrated her.

“Welcome back, Detective. I hope you’re feeling well.”

Just like that. Jade’s voice was even, but he was watching her carefully. She met his gaze without flinching. “Of course. Where were we?”

“Jade wouldn’t budge. He would not talk about Anise, Ion, or any of that,” Guy told her on the way back to the precinct.

“That’s unusual. He seems more the type to deflect and divert than outright refuse. My guess is that his refusal itself is a statement.”

Guy regarded her out of the corner of his eye. “That sounds suspiciously like a hunch to me.”

“Not at all. It’s pretty basic reasoning. No one is going to deny the fact that Jade is intelligent. Even if we had never met the man, Dr. Balfour’s work speaks for itself. He’s not just intelligent—he’s brilliant, far more so than either of us.”

“Hey, speak for yourself.”

“Don’t be offended by a simple statement of fact. My point is that he chooses his words carefully. I’m beginning to wish we had done these meetings at the precinct so we had tape recordings of them. Anise’s history aside, he knows more than he’s telling us.”

“That, I’m not going to even _pretend_ to deny. I understand what Natalia meant when she said he was creepy. When he pins you in that gaze, it’s like… it’s like he’s got you on an autopsy table and is about to make the first incision.”

Tear thought Guy was being a little melodramatic but decided not to say so. “In any case, that tells me that Akzeriuth is the key. That’s the only bit of real information he’s willingly offered us so far.”

“You don’t think it’s just to lead us off his and Anise’s trail?”

“Always a possibility,” Tear admitted. “But after talking to Mrs. fon Fabre I’m _sure_ there’s more there we don’t understand. I want to talk to Luke about it. Not today. When he gets out of the hospital tomorrow, he’ll feel more vulnerable and willing to open up.”

Guy didn’t look too happy with that idea. “You’re taking a gamble there, aren’t you?”

“It would be more of a gamble to force the issue right now. I want to save him just as much as you do, Guy. That’s why we have to do this right.”

“All right. I trust you on this. Nothing else is panning out.”

“Right. And if we don’t figure this out soon, not only will our leads start going cold…”

Guy’s expression was grim. “So will Luke.”

At the precinct, Tear dove in with renewed fervor. She decided first to review all the facts as she knew them, determined not to miss anything. There was something about the evidence from the first incident, the one with the crossbow, that bothered her, but after going over everything multiple times and finding nothing, she eventually dismissed her concerns and moved onto more productive paths. She began making calls, looking for paper trails, anything at all that might definitively connect Luke to the collapse of Akzeriuth. The more she heard, the grimmer it seemed. The incident had left the area around the company’s main office so destitute, it was rapidly on its way to becoming a ghost town. Someone had gotten trade secrets out of Akzeriuth and to Kimlasca Properties. Tear was finally willing to bet it was Luke. But how? Why? And who of the many, many people who had cause to hate him for it were finally cashing in?

She found herself reluctantly returning to older incidents. Hod Consolidated. The same thing, years before. Not as sudden or catastrophic, but maybe, just maybe, there was something there…

“Okay. Yeah. Give my love to Noelle and Iemon. And tell him to give that hip some rest! Okay. ’Bye.” Guy looked up, the smile sliding off his face when he saw the look on Tear’s. “I know that sounded like a personal call, but I swear it wasn’t. It was Ginji, just letting me know he got the all clear about the… Tear…?”

Tear put the printout she was holding on his desk. “Why _do_ people change their names again, Guy?”

He definitely wasn’t smiling anymore. “I don’t know. You tell me, Grants. Or is it Fende?”

“That’s different. You know Van and I changed our names after our parents died, when our grandfather took us in.”

“It’s not different. My parents are dead too.”

“Because of Hod. Because of Kimlasca Properties. Because of Ingobert Lanvaldear and Herzog fon Fabre.”

“No. It was a car accident.”

Tear was losing her patience. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Guy. Or rather, Gailardia Galan Gardios.”

Guy set his jaw. “It’s _Guy_ -lardia.”

“That’s not how that’s pronounced.”

“It’s my name, I think I know how to pronounce it.”

“It’s also the name of—”

“ _Tear_.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. He was right that they had gotten off-topic, even if he was still wrong about everything else. “You lost your house. It was the middle of a blizzard. You were evicted, literally thrown out in the cold. You were supposed to drive to your uncle’s. The roads were icy, visibility poor. The car spun out. Zygmunt, Eugenie, and Marybelle Gardios, all killed. The sole survivor was the family’s younger child, Ga— _Guy_ -lardia. You never would have been there if it weren’t for what Kimlasca did to Hod, for the fact that they caused both of your parents to lose their jobs.”

“Is this a test? Do you want a grade? A gold star?” Guy asked.

“You have something against that family. A cause to hate them. A good cause, frankly. That makes you a person of interest. Does Van know about _that_?”

Guy leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, actually. He does.”

Tear was stunned, both by the idea that it might be true and the idea that Guy would be brazen enough to claim it. “You’re lying.”

Guy held out a hand toward Van’s office. “See for yourself.”

The two held each other’s gaze for a long minute, then Tear finally turned on her heel and marched away. She knocked twice on Van’s door, then, without waiting for an answer, let herself in.

Van took one look at her face, said, “I’ll call you right back,” and hung up the phone. “Tear. What’s the matter?”

“I want Guy off this case,” she said. Not the opening salvo she had planned initially, but it got to the heart of the matter. “He has not one but multiple conflicts of interest, which he claims you knew about. They compromise the integrity of our case and jeopardize our chances of a conviction.”

“Now, Tear. Calm down.”

That only served to make Tear more angry. She _was_ calm. She was starting to think she was the only person in this precinct who was capable of being rational, who understood how the law worked, and who wanted to find any kind of real justice for Luke.

Her expression must have made her thoughts plain to Van. He always was good at reading her, even when no one else could. He stood and came around his desk to lay his hand on her shoulder. She wanted to shrug him off but found she couldn’t bring herself to.

“Listen, Tear.” He spoke in a low voice, his manner unruffled. “I’ve known Guy a very long time. I would trust him with my life.”

“You can’t just say you trust people,” Tear said. “People betray each other all the time.”

“There’s no one you trust implicitly?”

He had her there, and he knew it. How could she say to his face she didn’t trust him? She had always idolized and adored him. He had helped raise her from infancy. In many ways he was as much father as brother to her. She owed everything she was to him and his right hand, Deputy Chief Oslo. She and Van were as close as any two siblings could be.

She didn’t answer.

He patted her shoulder, correctly interpreting her silence. “I believe in Guy. I hope that will give you the confidence to do the same.”

“It doesn’t matter what you or I believe,” Tear protested, not quite done yet. “Any halfway-decent defense attorney will find out about this and use it to shred our case.”

“No they won’t, because I know you and Guy will make it bulletproof. Or… shred-proof, as it were.”

Tear found herself back outside Van’s closed door, not sure what had just happened. Talking to Van could be like that sometimes. It didn’t help her frustration at all. She did not exactly storm back to her desk, but more than one person jumped out of her way when they saw her coming.

Guy was still sitting at his own desk, frowning down at the printout she’d left there. His parents and sister were staring back, a smiling family from a lifetime ago, now nothing more than ghosts. “Tear,” he said as she sat down.

“Yes,” she said without looking at him, focusing her attention on straightening papers that didn’t need it.

“I’ll recuse myself from this case if you think that’s best.”

“I do.”

“But remember. I know it better than anyone else, excepting you. Two heads are better than one. And I’m the only one who was there for Jade’s second interview.”

“All of these interviews have been informal. I can take his statement again.” She swiveled her chair to face him. “And two heads are _not_ always better than one.”

He caught her chair by the arm before she could get up. “I’ll do it. But I think you’re making a mistake. We work well together.”

“Actually I find you overly-emotional and inclined to rely on ephemeral and insubstantial guesswork rather than facts and evidence.”

“Exactly! We’re like cops on TV.”

Tear was not amused, but before they could continue, a third party joined them.

“Hey,” their coworker, Aslan Frings said. “You guys got a minute? You might want to hear this.”

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Guy said.

“Well, funny thing. We’ve been following Largo the Black Lion for awhile now, right? Trying to find a possible connection to Nebilim Labs and illegal drug trading.”

Tear gripped the edge of her chair, her full attention on Aslan. “Wait, are you serious?”

“I would never be anything other than serious with you, Detective,” Aslan said somberly. “Anyway, so I find out some other officers have made a move on the labs and who does it turn out to be but you two, investigating something completely unrelated. My guys and I are a little afraid this is gonna spook them, make them start getting rid of evidence, right? No, don’t apologize, you couldn’t have known. Anyway we plan to bump up our raid to today and what do you know. I’m on my way out when I get the call that the warehouse is on fire.”

“ _What_?”

“They’re claiming it was some sort of electrical mishap, but I’m calling bull. Anyway, I’m about to head down to the scene. You guys coming too? Just in case it’s related to yours.”

Tear glanced over at Guy, who was watching her expectantly. She didn’t know why he was waiting for her to make this decision. For now, he was the senior partner. She lacked the authority to tell him what to do. “It’s your call,” she told him, because it was, whether she liked it or not.

Guy hesitated, then stood. “Let’s roll.”

Tear drove. Normally she let Guy do it because he liked to, but this time she would have put herself in the driver’s seat even if he hadn’t “offered.” It was less childish spite and more a childish attempt to exert some semblance of control.

The fire was already out by the time they got there. Fortunately all the employees were evacuated and nobody was seriously injured. All that was lost besides part of the building was Nebilim Labs equipment, stock, and most likely evidence.

“Nobody saw anyone or anything suspicious, as far as we can tell,” Aslan said, rejoining them outside.

“Unless they’re all lying, that rules out Largo himself,” Tear said. “He’s not the kind of man who really blends.”

“Sync is, though,” Guy said, using a pen to scoop something up off the ground: a black woolen flat cap exactly like the one Sync had been wearing in the bar the day before.

“That’s quite a conclusion to jump to, even for you,” said Tear.

“I’m not jumping. I grabbed it yesterday, remember? There was a little hole worn in the back.” He turned the hat over, the pen poking through just such a hole.

“Do you really think he would be so careless?”

“No. But I also don’t think this was an accident. I think he left this here on purpose. He wanted us to find it.”

“How does that make sense?”

“It means we’re on the wrong track.” He handed the hat over to be bagged and tagged as evidence.

“You’re not convincing me.”

“I know. Unfortunately it’s a gut feeling. I think Sync is playing with us.” He turned to Aslan. “I’m sorry. I hope it wasn’t us coming here that caused this.”

The more she thought about it, the stronger Tear’s skepticism that she and Guy had spooked anyone into starting that fire grew. It didn’t make sense. There was something else at play.

“The funny—and by funny I mean awful and frustrating—thing is that this isn’t the first time this has happened with these people,” Aslan said. “The last time the investigating team was ready to make a raid, everything mysteriously vanished that day. It was such a catastrophe the entire team was replaced. That’s how I ended up here.”

“It _vanished_?” Tear repeated.

“Yeah. The surveillance on this place was so tight, they still don’t know how it happened. They saw the boxes go in, but when they launched the raid, nothing. The place was empty, even though no one saw anything go out. The worry was that there was a mole on the taskforce, which is why everyone was replaced. IA never ended up indicting anyone, so if there _was_ a mole, they got away with it.” He ruffled his hair nervously. “Probably going to boot me and my guys off now too.”

“What a mess,” Guy said.

“Yes, but not one that seems to have anything to do with Luke. Do you think he could be involved in illegal drug trading?” Tear said.

“You always say anything’s possible.”

Tear knew developing tunnel vision was the worst thing she could do as a detective. If she didn’t chase down every viable lead, attorneys would seize on that in court and use it to create reasonable doubt. She was the one who’d insisted they check out Largo in the first place. How could they not thoroughly investigate a connection, however seemingly tenuous, to illegal drug trading?

Her feelings on the subject didn’t matter, but to her, it didn’t fit. Organized crime murders were messy and final—and that was _if_ there was a body and a crime scene. Sometimes people just vanished, never to be seen again. This was not the work of a professional killer. Luke would be dead if it were. This reeked of someone with access, who could move about the manor easily, who knew Luke and his movements, and who had no experience doing anything like this.

Guy felt the same way, it was plain. His reasons made less sense, but even he said he believed they were on the wrong track.

“You follow it up,” Tear said. “And I’ll keep up on my end.”

Guy regarded her for a minute, then burst out laughing. “You think this is all bogus too, don’t you. Well, whatever. Somebody’s gotta dot the Is and cross the Ts and if it’ll help you let me stay on the case, then I’m your guy.”

“You definitely are not ‘my’ Guy,” Tear said, getting into the driver’s seat of the car again. “And I lack the authority to ‘let’ or bar you from anything. I’m just trying to solve this case.”

By the time they reached the precinct, the itch in Tear’s brain was back and too strong to ignore, so before she buried herself back in Akzeriuth she checked into a few other things. What she found, she did not like, but she needed to close Luke’s case first.

She was still on it hours later when Guy gently touched her shoulder and pointed at the time. She nodded her acknowledgement, but did not follow him when he left. It wasn’t until Giselle found her there sometime later, dozing in her coffee, that she decided it might be time to pack it in for the night.

“It’s good that you’re working so hard, Tear, but don’t forget to look after your own health,” Giselle said. “After all, you can’t be much help when you’ve run yourself into the ground.”

Tear felt a knee-jerk defensiveness, the way she always did when someone brought up her health, but she knew Giselle was right. “That’s true. I suppose I lost track of time. Thank you. Are you headed home too?”

“Yes. Van is still here as well but assures me he’s leaving soon.”

Tear glanced over her shoulder at the closed door to her brother’s office. “Deputy Chief Oslo, how… do you feel about trust?”

“What do you mean?”

“As in… do you think it’s wise to ever trust anyone?”

“Wise? I’m not sure wisdom comes into it. I think all of us need something to believe in. Even you trust the law, though you may not think of it in those terms.”

She was right about that too. “Whom do you trust? My—the chief, right?”

“Of course. With my life.” There were those words again. “Don’t you?”

Tear’s chest tightened painfully. She was ready to go home. “I trust the system.”


	4. Day 4

It was a long and fitful night, and when Tear dragged herself out of bed the next morning, her outlook was much bleaker. She was a car stuck in the mud, helplessly and uselessly spinning her wheels. She’d been plagued by nightmares of Luke dying right in front of her while she watched and did nothing.

It was the morning of his discharge, too, which meant keeping him safe was going to become that much harder. She stopped at the precinct only long enough to—reluctantly—join up with Guy, who halted his usual cheery morning greetings upon getting a good look at her and instead wordlessly handed over a cup of coffee, her third of the day so far.

There was a banner that read “WELCOME HOME LUKE!!!” strung up outside the manor. Judging by all the hearts, Tear was willing to bet Anise was the one who’d made it. Inside the foyer were balloons, all of Luke’s sympathy flowers, and most of the family. Anise bounded up to them when they entered. “My Luke is home!” she said. “Look, I think I’m going to make a scrapbook.” She held up her phone to play them a slideshow entitled _Luke’s Discharge_. “Here’s the last picture of Luke in his hospital gown! Here’s the last picture of Luke’s cute little tushie in his hospital gown! Here’s Luke signing the discharge papers! Here’s Luke telling me to stop taking pictures of him signing the discharge papers!”

“Anise,” Luke cut in. He was standing nearby, holding Mieu, and he did not look happy at all to be home.

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry! What did you detectives come here for? And would you like some celebratory champagne?”

“They can’t drink alcohol if they’re on duty, Anise,” Natalia said. Tear noticed she was having difficulty making eye contact with either of the detectives, which was extremely out of character. Even more out of character was the way she added, “But I suppose anyone could make that mistake.”

 _She knows_ , Tear thought. Ingobert had decided to tell her. Tear couldn’t help but feel a little more respect for the man.

“Boo! What their boss doesn’t know won’t hurt them! Right, detectives?” Anise winked at Guy.

“Ah, we’ll pass, but thank you for the offer,” Guy said. “I know all of you want to celebrate and have a nice relaxing day together, but there is one thing we wanted to talk to Luke about very briefly—”

Anise jumped in to grab Luke’s arm. “Ahh, no! Not today!”

“It’s fine, Anise,” Luke said. “It’ll be quick.”

“Oh, you’re here, detectives.” Herzog, Ingobert, and a man neither Tear nor Guy recognized emerged from the drawing room. Herzog tried to inject some lightness into his tone when he spoke, but it was fairly obvious he wasn’t thrilled to see them.

“Yes. We intend to make this quick so you and your family can get back to your celebration,” Guy assured him.

“Why not both?” the new man said jovially. He was somewhat stocky, with ash blond hair that stood out all the more against his tan complexion. Turquoise jewelry dangled from his ears and dotted his fingers. He held out his hand. “What’s business without a little pleasure, I say. Hi, I’m Peony Malkuth, of Malkuth Worldwide. I gatecrashed by saying I needed to talk shop too but really I just wanted in on the party. Am I right?” He nudged Jade with his elbow. For his part, Jade only unbalanced slightly, quickly righting himself and his glasses.

Tear thought it was beyond foolish to introduce an unknown element into this situation. There would be uniforms around for the time being but why anyone would take the chance at this juncture was beyond her. Still, it was obvious this family put the business first and there was no telling them otherwise.

Finally they were able to separate Luke from the others and go to the drawing room. Tear saw Jade grab Anise by the collar so she couldn’t follow. Mieu did come with them though. Tear still felt a small sting of embarrassment whenever she saw him, but it was largely drowned out by that cute little cat face.

“What do you think of that guy?” Guy asked once they were seated. “That Peony Malkuth?”

Luke shrugged. Ever since they arrived he’d seemed to Tear even more detached than usual. “Don’t really have an opinion. That’s more of a business side of things. I’m not involved in that.”

“What about Akzeriuth? Were you involved in that?” Tear asked.

Luke continued to stare at nothing, absently petting Mieu. “What’s that got to do with this?”

“Potentially everything,” Tear said.

There was another long silence. “I don’t really want to talk about that.”

“But—”

“I can ask for a lawyer at any time and then you can’t talk to me anymore, right?”

“That’s correct. _Are_ you asking for one?” Guy said.

“Not if you stop asking me about that.”

“Please, Mr. fon Fabre— _Luke_ ,” Tear said. “This is information that could potentially save your life.”

Luke shrugged. “Sorry. I’m not talking.”

And that was that. Tear suddenly felt her hopes for solving this case begin to evaporate. They could take Luke with them into the precinct, but they still couldn’t force him to talk. She knew the fon Fabres were all heartbeats away from ending their cooperation, and Herzog’s dissatisfaction was clear. Her first big case and not only was she not going to be able to close it, somebody might die as a result.

Both detectives were feeling pretty discouraged when they got back to the precinct. They still had a job to do, however, and if Luke wasn’t going to talk, maybe there were other lines of attack to be found. Guy was still researching possible drug trade connections, which made her feel less inclined to insist he recuse himself, even if the whole thing seemed like a painfully pointless waste of time.

And then they got the call that there had been another incident.

The upstairs balcony outside Luke’s room was mostly gone, in pieces on the ground below. Guy crouched down to take a look. “Our forensics guys will have to confirm but these look like saw marks to me.”

Anise was in tears, clutching the stuffed doll Tear had seen at the hospital like her life depended on it and bawling into Jade’s shirt. Jade looked acutely uncomfortable, but he dutifully patted her on the back and said, “There, there.”

Luke sat ashen-faced in an armchair, holding his shoulder, but he looked otherwise fine. Mieu was curled up in his lap, sleeping. Susanne was nowhere in sight, which Tear thought was probably preferable.

As best as Tear could gather, Anise and Luke had been up here alone together. Anise was just inside the open balcony doors picking out china patterns while Luke stood outside watching the sunset. He leaned against the railing and it suddenly gave way, nearly causing him to go over, but Anise heard the noise and caught his arm before he could fall. Somehow she managed to hold onto him long enough for some of the staff to hear her shouting. The staff immediately came running and helped pull the both of them back up. Truthfully, a fall from that height was unlikely to have been fatal, depending on how Luke landed, but that seemed to Tear to be a bit beside the point.

The suddenness of the call combined with the chaos of the scene caused Tear not to realize how poorly she felt until her vision started to go spotty. She caught the table nearby to steady herself, drawing Guy’s attention, but she ignored him, instead finding a maid to show her to a nearby restroom.

Tear had just gotten the cap off the bottle when the door she’d forgotten to lock opened behind her. She barely had time to react when Anise grabbed her arm to turn her around.

The pills went everywhere. Tear dropped the bottle in surprise.

Anise’s face instantly transformed from despair to shock. “I’m sorry! I didn’t—” She got to the bottle before Tear. Upon seeing the label, she went even whiter. “Tear. This is…”

“Mine,” Tear said, taking the bottle. She quickly began trying to scoop as many pills as she could find back into it. She didn’t want Mieu accidentally swallowing one.

“You have Chronic Pulmonary Qliphoth Toxicosis. That’s what Ion had.” Fresh tears welled up in Anise’s eyes. “I recognize that drug. Ion used to take it.”

“This medicine isn’t commercially available. It’s only in the trial phase,” Tear said, still scouring the floor.

“He was _part_ of the trial, just like you. Jade got him in through his connections.”

Tear paused. “But it didn’t work for him. He still died.” She looked up at Anise.

Anise was visibly fighting to keep herself together, but she couldn’t do it. She began to cry in earnest again and sank to her knees. “It _did_ work. It _did_. And I know he wasn’t in the placebo group because Jade told me so later. He was on the real thing and it was working and he was getting better.”

Tear was having trouble breathing, in part because of her potentially fatal lung disease but also because she was afraid to disturb Anise and make her stop speaking.

“Mohs didn’t want him to get better,” Anise went on shakily. “Ion being the miracle who survived by the grace of Lorelei in the face of a deadly illness was import to him. This isn’t how most people in the church think, by the way, but Mohs is just… He thinks everyone should let Lorelei decide all, and if we can use it to make a little more money, even better, right? He… he switched Ion’s medicine with something. I doubt he meant to _kill_ him but he was so—Ion was so frail, h-how could Mohs not realize what would happen?”

“Why didn’t you come forward about this?”

“My parents are in debt to him,” she said, swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Like, a lot. Thousands upon thousands of dollars. He could have someone take them to court to collect and they have nothing to give him. He could find other ways to hurt them too. I know they’re ridiculous people, but I really do love them and I loved Ion too but he’s gone and I have to protect my parents now. And Florian. I know Ion would want me to. Since I couldn’t protect him.” She dissolved into tears once again.

Tear hesitated, then awkwardly reached out a hand and patted Anise’s shoulder. “There, there. Would you…” She paused to catch her breath. “Would you be willing to go on the record with this information? I give you my word we won’t let Mohs harm your parents or Florian.”

Anise hesitated, then nodded. “He’s going to tell you it was me. It wasn’t. Everybody thinks I’m awful but I really, really cared about Ion. He was so important to me. I failed him. I’m afraid I’ll fail Luke too.”

That startled Tear. The thought that Luke’s brushes with death could actually be traumatic for Anise as well had not occurred to her.

“I didn’t take the money from the church either, I swear. I would never have taken money from something that meant so much to Ion. And if I had, I would have given it to my parents. I think Mohs took that too.”

“You told Jade not to talk about all this, didn’t you.”

Anise sniffed, nodding. “He wanted to but I said no. He backed off for my sake.”

There was a polite throat-clearing sound behind them. They both looked up to find Natalia standing just outside the door, still looking far more dignified in the face of the awkwardness of the situation than seemed reasonable. “Here, Anise,” she said quietly, holding the handmade doll out.

Anise looked as surprised by the unexpected gesture as Tear felt. “Th-thank you,” she said, taking it.

“I’m sorry for accusing you before,” Natalia said. “It’s clear to me now that you’re as distraught as any of us about all this. I… I had no idea you had lost someone that way.”

Anise sniffed. “I’m sorry about all the names I called you, both out loud and in my head. I wasn’t very nice either. And I’m sorry about the… other stuff.”

Natalia nodded her acknowledgment, then returned to Luke’s room.

“She’s been a lot nicer to me ever since she found out she’s gutter trash too,” Anise said with a shrug. “Look, don’t tell anybody I said this, but just in case you’re still investigating her, don’t bother. She can be possessive of Luke, but it never seemed like it was in a homicidal way. Honestly, she really cares about both brothers and this family a lot. Though you’ll never convince me she and Asch don’t have really boring sex.”

Tear, who had finally taken her pills, nearly choked on them.

Anise sighed, getting to her feet. “I guess it’s time to settle some accounts. I have to go talk to Mrs. fon Fabre. I have some things I have to return to her.” She picked up her doll, which Tear suddenly had a funny feelings might have an antique necklace and pair of earrings nestled in with all the stuffing.

“Quite the party in here, huh?” Guy leaned against the doorframe, looking amused.

Tear started. She was still sitting on the floor, holding an open bottle of pills. “Oh.” She gave one last look around for any that had gotten away and, finding none, capped the bottle and got to her feet.

“Forensics wants to do a sweep of the house, look for any more booby traps that might be lying in wait,” Guy went on. “I get the feeling we’re gonna just end up coming right back here again, but I think we should return to the precinct for now.”

Tear agreed. “We also need to reopen the investigation into Ion Jue’s death and be prepared to issue some indictments.” On the drive back, she told him Anise’s story.

“And you believe her?”

“It fits the facts as we know them,” Tear said. “We’ll need evidence, which means forensic accounting will have to check Mohs’ records, and the medical examiner’s findings will need to be gone over again. It seems reasonable to expect what they discover will bear this out.”

Being back at the precinct meant a return to desk work. After a few hours of fruitless retreading the same roads she had gone up and down dozens of times by now, Tear was becoming extremely frustrated. Finally, she shoved all of that aside and decided she needed to try a different approach. Suddenly she remembered that there had been something about the crossbow incident that felt off to her. Maybe she was wrong, but she was running out of options and there was no way it could hurt to look again at this point. After all, in the deluge of new leads that came on that first day, they hadn’t been able to spend much time on this particular occurrence. She laid out the evidence of that incident, the statements and photos and diagrams.

The diagram of the scene was what seemed off, she was sure about it. She took out the actual photo of the room and compared the two. They didn’t match. What could cause this? A spark of an idea began to form in her mind, but what it meant, she couldn’t immediately say. She replayed each moment of the investigation in her mind, one after another. With a jolt, she thought of the photos Anise had showed her just that morning. She realized the answer lay there, in a detail she had noticed but not quite processed before her attention was drawn away. This idea seemed absurd, but seeing the pictures in front of her so clearly made it difficult to deny.

She went over everything one more time, doubting herself, but no other explanation covered everything the way this one did. All the pieces were finally fitting together. The inelegance of the attempts, the behavior of the those involved, the connection to Akzeriuth, it all made too much sense. This was not a hunch. This was what had happened. She was shocked and angry that she had missed it before, no longer able to deny its blatancy, but now was not the time to wallow. She had a job to finish.

She turned to Guy. He was sitting at his desk, tapping his nose with his laced fingers as he stared pensively at nothing. He had clearly been deep in thought for some time.

“Guy. I know who it was.”

His voice was as grim as his expression. “You too, huh.”

Back at the fon Fabre manor as Guy predicted, they sat down in the drawing room exactly as they had that first day. A maid served them coffee, then closed the door on her way out.

“Are you really going to make me have to call my lawyer?” Luke asked. From his lap, Mieu yawned.

“You may need to, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that,” Guy said. “We know it was you.”

“Me what? Me who almost fell off a third-floor balcony like two hours ago?”

“You who staged everything,” Tear corrected. “You were trying to kill yourself and make it look like an accident.”

Luke was stunned. He quickly gathered himself, however, and tried to force a laugh. “That’s ridiculous. That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It also happens to be the truth.” Tear laid out the photo and the diagram of the first incident. “This is how the crossbow is normally hung. Anybody on staff would know this. It’s their job. Here’s where you were sitting when the shot went off. Notice the trajectory? It doesn’t match. The only way it makes sense is if the crossbow was hung backwards, exactly as, say, a left-handed person might unthinkingly put it.”

“So you’re basing this on the fact that I’m left-handed?” Luke scoffed. “So is Asch. So are lots of people.”

“I noticed that Asch tends to use his right hand, actually,” Guy said. “He trained himself to be ambidextrous, didn’t he? An example you never chose to follow. Besides, even if he did want to use his wife’s precious family heirloom to kill someone she cared about, he would never have made such a careless mistake.”

Luke was starting to look a little anxious. Mieu sensed his distress, sitting up and mewing questioningly at him.

“The attempts were clumsy. Amateur. Easy to fail, which they did. And the gargoyle was too big. Unlike the crossbow, people took notice,” Tear pressed. “You panicked and sabotaged the car, hoping it would do the trick before anyone discovered anything. It didn’t.”

“Why, Luke? Akzeriuth, right? It has something to do with that, just like Jade said,” Guy added.

Luke grimaced. “Jade. He probably knew all along.”

“Luke, if you tell us what happened, we’ll ask them not to press charges for filing a false report,” Tear said.

“I never filed anything,” Luke protested, but it was feeble. “You don’t understand. My family thinks I’m a joke. When my dad and uncle asked me to meet with Akzeriuth Industries about a possible merger, I was really… happy. I thought they needed me.”

“Asch said Ingobert offered you a job before,” Guy said.

“Yeah, in the mailroom. I’m not trying to talk trash on people who work there, but to give you some idea of what that meant, he started Asch off in a corner office. I got the message.”

“So you met with the people at Akzeriuth,” Tear said. “Then what?”

“The president’s name was Pyrope. You know what happened after he lost his job? His little boy died because they couldn’t afford his medical bills. I found out last week Pyrope killed himself out of grief.”

“What _happened_ , Luke?”

There was a pained silence. “I don’t know, exactly. They gave me a big bouquet of flowers to give him. I think it was bugged. All I know for sure is that it was something I did. Dad and Uncle took advantage of what _I did_ to destroy Akzeriuth. I realized that’s all I’d ever be to them, something to use. And in the process, because of my own stupidity, I hurt countless people. I just… didn’t think my life was worth very much.”

“Why stage the accidents, Luke?” Guy asked.

Luke gave a tiny, rueful laugh. “I didn’t want them to know it was me. I didn’t want them to realize how cowardly and weak and selfish I am. I guess the pity of a freak accident was better than that. Plus my mom… I thought it would be better for my mom that way.”

“No way is better for your mom, Luke,” Guy said gently. “She’s not gonna care how it happens, only that you’re gone.”

Luke put his head in his hands and began to cry quietly. Mieu butted his forehead against Luke’s, and Luke reached out a shaky hand to stroke the cat’s back.

“It’s okay, Luke,” Tear said. “You’re not selfish or cowardly or weak, and we’re going to get you the help you need.”


	5. Epilogue

Tear knocked twice on the police chief’s office door, waited for him to say “Enter,” then did so.

“Tear,” he said with a smile. “Come in, have a seat.”

Tear shut the door firmly behind her. “I’d rather stand.”

“Very well. What’s on your mind?”

“I wanted to let you know that I just finished filing my report with Internal Affairs. You would have known it was me, and I felt it was only right to give you warning.”

Van’s eyes narrowed. “Tear, what have you done?”

“It’s not what I’ve done, Van. It’s what you’ve done. I know you’ve been working with Largo and the others. I thought it was strange that people like Arietta Wilde and Saphir Gneiss would come forward so quickly in our investigation with tips—unless they heard from someone familiar with the case that Anise and Jade were persons of interest. When Aslan Frings told me about the last incident involving a thwarted raid on Nebilim Labs, I did a little digging. The entire team was replaced between the two raids. The only commonality was their boss, you. I suspect your involvement with Nebilim Labs goes back further, in other ways.” She patted her pocket where she kept her medicine, trusting he would get the message. “I can’t prove how much Deputy Chief Oslo is involved, but knowing how loyal she is to you, I’m betting it’s a lot. I also have suspicions I can’t prove about just why you put Guy and me on this case. Of all the cases to assign Guy, this one. Did you want us to fail? I know you used us as a smokescreen for the second botched raid, an excuse why the fire would be set when it was. And that’s all it was, because why would Saphir Gneiss be spooked by a tip he himself phoned in? He’s odd, but that’s something else entirely. I don’t know if that was your only reason, or if you also had some motive to ruin the fon Fabre case. Frankly, I don’t want to know.”

Van’s mouth was set in a firm line. “Tear, you can’t prove any of this.”

“Maybe not. But I think I made a pretty good case to IA. They can take it from there.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Van said, “You’re making a terrible mistake, Tear.”

“Remember before when you asked if there was anyone I trusted implicitly? The answer is no.” Tear turned and left the office, letting the door shut behind her.

She grabbed her coat and headed out into the cold night air. Almost instantly, Anise fell into step beside her. “It’s about time. I almost froze my cute little nose off!”

Tear blinked. “Ms.—Anise? Is there something you needed?”

“I just wanted to let you know how things were going. Plus, you look like you could use a drink. I had that pretty partner of yours snag us a booth at the bar around the corner.”

“But I—”

“Come on, it’ll be just what you need. Fifteen minutes, I promise.” Anise hooked her arm through Tear’s and dragged her along whether she liked it or not.

Guy waved them over and slid them each a drink. “So how’s Luke?” he asked.

“He’s doing really well,” Anise said, taking a sip. “I just saw him this morning and all he did was complain about the food.”

“That’s… encouraging?” Tear ventured.

“Yep! I’m gonna keep visiting him even though we decided to break up. He seems to think that just because I’m cute, and a good cook, and pay lots of attention to him doesn’t mean we should get married. I don’t really get where he’s coming from on that, but I guess I’m okay with it.”

“That’s a shame. You two seemed really good together,” Guy said, which was almost so excessively nice it became mean again.

“I know, right!” Anise slapped her palm on the table. “He was like, ‘Come on, we both knew the whole time I only proposed to you to get back at my family and that you were never really in love with me, only my money,’ and I was like, eh, po-tay-to, po-tah-to, but he seems to think it makes a difference for some reason. Men. Get this, though! He told me he originally planned to take out life insurance with a double indemnity clause in my name so that I could pay off my parents’ debts, but he was afraid it might make me look guilty when he died. Isn’t that sweet!”

“Sweet” wasn’t the word Tear would have used, but she nodded politely.

“His mom even said she would have given me that jewelry if I’d asked her. Ho hum, guess I blew that one. Anyway, I think I’m gonna go back to the church. Somebody’s going to need to clean up after Mohs, and it’s what Ion would have wanted. Jade’s going back to Nebilim Labs to do the same with Saphir’s mess. He never told me why he left in the first place, but you guys could probably dig that up if you wanted, right?”

“Uhh, that feels a little like opening a coffin and poking the corpse inside with a stick,” Guy said.

“Yeah, Jade has that effect on people. Oh! You want to know what’s really funny? Natalia’s started visiting her birth father in jail while he’s waiting for trial. I think she thinks she can reform him. I swear, that girl has delusions of being some kind of superhero. But Asch is supportive, as always, and to each their own, I guess.”

“How’s Mrs. fon Fabre?” Tear asked.

“Holding steady. Jade said he’s going to look more into better treatments for her condition at the labs. Oh!” Anise clapped a hand over her mouth. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that. Jade doesn’t like people to know he’s a big softie at heart.”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get Ingobert or Herzog on anything,” Guy said, unable to hide his bitterness.

“I don’t know. I know this is probably hard to believe, but Herzog was _really_ shaken up about what happened. I mean, I’ve seriously never seen the guy so rattled. Maybe ligers don’t change their spots, but I think this is forcing him to think in ways he never really has before.”

“Stripes,” Tear said.

“What?”

“Ligers don’t have spots, they have stripes.”

“Whatever.” Anise rolled her eyes at Guy, who shrugged.

Tear checked the time. More than fifteen minutes had passed. She ordered another drink. “So tell me more about your plans for the church, Anise.”


End file.
